flPR        7  fQOQ 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


UPON  THE 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 


OF 


ICELAND  STANFORD 

(LATE  A  SENATOR  FROM  THE  STATE  OF  CALIFORNIA), 


DELIVERED    IN  THE 


SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


SATURDAY,  SEPTEMBER  16,  1893. 


WASHINGTON. 
1893 


•  "- 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


UPON  THE 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 


OF 


LELAND  STANFORD 


(LATE  A  SENATOR  FROM  THE  STATE  OF  CALIFORNIA), 


DELIVERED    IN   THE 


SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


SATURDAY,  SEPTEMBER  16,  1893. 


WASHINGTON. 
I  $93 


MEMORIAL   ADDRESSES 

UPON  THE 

LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 

OF 

LELAND    STANPOED 

[Late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  California]. 


The  Chaplain,  Rev.  W.  H.  MILBURN,  D.  D.,  offered  the  fol 
lowing  prayer: 

Oh,  eternal  God,  as  we  are  gathered  to  commemorate  the  life 
and  services  of  a  late  Senator  upon  this  floor  whose  noble  gift 
for  education  makes  an  era  in  the  history  of  beneficence,  we 
pray  that  the  influence  of  his  illustrious  example  upon  the  peo 
ple  of  our  whole  country  may  lead  them  to  cease  piling  great 
masses  of  idle  and  useless  stones  as  monuments  of  the  famous 
and  lamented  dead,  but  convert  them  into  houses  of  use  and 
service  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  and  thus  for  the  honor  and 
glory  of  God. 

Comfort  and  console  the  bereaved  widow,  and  grant  her  length 
of  days  and  fullness  of  health  and  strength  to  complete  the  or 
ganization  and  endowment  of  the  university,  that  it  may  stand 
to  the  latest  times  a  monument  to  her  husband,  herself,  and  their 
beloved  son,  thus  working  from  age  to  age  benevolence,  and 
education,  and  ennobling  example.  We  pray  through  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Saviour.  Amen. 

MEMORIAL,  ADDRESSES  ON  THE  LATE  SENATOR  STANFORD. 

Mr.  WHITE  of  California.  .  Mr.  President,  I  desire  to  offer 
resolutions  which  I  send  to  the  desk. 
The  VICE-PRESIDENT.     The  resolutions  will  be  read. 
The  Secretary  read  the  resolutions,  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  has  heard  with  profound  sorrow  of  the  death  of 
Leland  Stanford,  late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  California. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  the 
business  of  the  Senate  be  now  suspended,  that  his  associates  may  be  enabled 
to  pay  proper  tribute  to  his  high  character  and  distinguished  public  services. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  communicate  these  resolutions 
to  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT.     The  question  is  on  agreeing  to  the 
resolutions. 
The  resolutions  were  unanimously  agreed  to. 

440  3 


Mr.  WHITE  of  California.  Mr  President,  another  member 
of  this  body  has  passed  from  among  us,  his  term  of  office  not  ac 
complished.  It  is  meet  that  we  who  have  been  his  associates 
should  record  our  sorrow  and  pay  fitting  tributes  of  respect  to 
his  memory.  I  shall  not  enter  upon  an  examination  of  the  life 
and  services  of  the  late  Leland  Stanford.  I  am  apprised  that 
other  Senators,  long  his  companions  here  and  elsewhere,  desire 
to  signalize  their  regard  by  a  review  of  his  career.  It  may  not 
be  amiss,  however,  for  me  to  contribute  a  brief  expression. 

s.-nator  Stanford  was  thoroughly  identified  with  the  interests 
of  ( 'alifornia.  His  relations  to  that  State  and  to  her  progress 
will  be  fully  det-uled  by  my  able  colleague  and  others  who  are 
to  follow  me.  He  was  not  only  twice  elected  to  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  by  the  California  Legislature,  but  he  was  also 
chosen  by  the  people  to  the  high  station  of  governor.  He  was 
thus  honored  at  a  time  when  it  was  necessary  that  strong  and 
wise  counsel  should  prevail,  and  the  history  of  our  common 
wealth  discloses  that  Governor  Stanford  was  not  only  loyal,  but 
that  his  policy  was  such  as  to  win  the  applause  of  all  well-disposed 
men,  regardless  of  party  affiliation.  He  had  faith  in  the  Ameri 
can  Union,  and  conducted  his  administration  in  accordance  with 
his  belief.  In  the  pursuit  of  the  objects  which  he  desired  to  at 
tain,  Senator  Stanford  was  diligent,  painstaking,  and  unremit 
ting. 

His  successes  were  due,  I  think,  largely  to  his  determination 
to  win  the  object  of  his  aspiration.  His  firmness  did  not  beget 
arrogance,  and  the  possession  of  wealth  did  not  impair  in  the 
slightest  degree  his  kindly  characteristics.  The  leading  part 
which  he  took  in  constructing  a  transcontinental  railroad  sys 
tem  and  in  carrying  on  the  vast  interests  connected  with  rail 
road  corporations  on  the  Pacific  coast  is  fully  known  and  needs 
no  elaboration  or  extended  presentation.  The  crowning  effort 
of  his  life— strikingly  at  variance  with  the  conduct  of  the  average 
millionaire — was  the  contribution  of  his  means  to  the  cause  of 
education.  While  many  doubted  his  ability,  as  they  doubted  the 
ability  of  any  individual,  to  sustain  the  stupendous  burden  which 
he  undertook  at  Palo  Alto,  matters  have  so  progressed  as  to 
justify  the  conclusion  that  he  and  his  estimable  wife  did  not 
overestimate  their  capabilities.  This  bestowal  of  his  fortune 
demonstrated  Mr.  Stanford's  philanthropy. 

The  plan  which  he  outlined  for  the  practical  teaching  of  the 
youth  of  his  country  proved  that  he  appreciated  the  necessities 
of  his  fellows.  Owing  to  the  impossibility  of  overcoming  the  in 
tervening  distance,  I  was  the  only  representative  of  the  Senate 
at  his  interment.  While  participating  in  the  impressive  cere 
monies  which  there  took  place,  I  soon  observed  that,  although 
there  were  no  invitations  issued,  there  were  in  attendance  a 
vast  number  of  the  older  citizens  of  California — a  remarkable 
representation  of  the  pioneer  element.  Many  of  those  who  had 
passed  through  the  storms  of  more  than  one-third  of  a  century 
and  who  had  participated  in  the  active  contentions  of  early  Cali 
fornia  life  stood  by  the  bier  with  moistened  eye.  Some  of  them  had 
differed  from  Senator  Stanford  in  politics  and  some  had  opposed 
him  in  other  respects,  but  all  were  emphatic  that  he  was  a  man 
whose  heart  was  no  less  reliable  than  his  brain.  If  the  expressions 
of  these  most  competent  witnesses  could  have  been  perpetuated 

440 


they  would  have  constituted  a  far  more  eloquent  tribute  to  his 
memory  th:;n  anything  which  will  be  uttered  in  this  Chamber. 
He  was  laid  to  rest  in  that  beautiful  principality,  bewildering  in 
its  charms,  which  he  had  selected  for  his  home. 

Senator  Stanford  was  not  without  his  trials.  The  loss  of  the 
son  whos3  name  the  university  carries  was  a  blow  that  a  less  de 
termined  organization  would  have  failed  to  resist;  and  while  in 
this  Chamber  those  who  were  associated  with  him  utter  words 
of  regretful  sentiment,  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  his  companion 
and  truest  friend,  the  partner  of  his  cares  and  his  joys,  still  sur 
vives;  that  up.jn  her  shoulders  is  cast  the  burden  of  carrying 
out  the  great  projects  which  she  and  her  husband  designed,  and 
to  which  they  consecrated  their  later  years.  That  she  has  the 
power,  and  that  she  will  realize  their  anticipations,  no  one  who 
is  acquainted  with  her  or  ^t  all  familiar  with  her  attainments, 
for  a  moment  doubts.  I  know  that  the  sincere  and  undivided 
condolence  of  this  Chamber  goes  out  to  her,  and  she  can  rest  in 
assured  possession  of  the  sympathy  and  good  will  of  her  coun 
trymen. 

Senator  Stanford's  death  was  not  altogether  unexpected.  His 
once  robust  constitution  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  business  and 
time.  His  transition  to  another  world  is  but  an  additional  notice 
to  us  all  suggesting  the  inevitable. 

"As  the  amber  of  the  clouds 

Changes  iuto  silver  gray. 
So  the  light  of  every  life 

Fades  at  last  from  earth  away. 

Mr.  DOLPH.  Mr.  President,  the  history  of  this  country  af 
fords  many  examples  of  brilliant  success  in  every  branch  of 
human  endeavor;  biographies  of  those  who  from  humble  begin 
nings,  unfavorable  surroundings,  and  adverse  circumstances  have 
arisen  by  force  of  their  native  powers,  their  self-reliance,  and 
patient  industry  to  the  most  exalted  positions,  to  the  control 
of  greit  industrial  establishments,  to  the  highest  usefulness  and 
distinction  in  science,  art,  and  literature.  Among  all  these  ex 
amples,  which  show  the  possibilities  of  the  American  youth  under 
our  form  of  government  and  our  industrial  and  educational  sys 
tems,  there  is  probably  not  a  more  conspicuous  example  than 
that  of  the  late  Senator  Stanford,  and  there  have  been  few  men 
in  this  country  the  story  of  whose  lives  truthfully  written  would 
be  more  fascinating. 

Like  myself  he  was  born  and  reared  upon  a  farm  in  the  State 
of  New  York.  In  labor  upon  a  farm  he  laid  the  foundation  of 
bodily  vigor,  acquired  habits  of  industry,  and  learned  the  value 
of  money;  and  in  the  district  school  he  laid  the  foundation  of  an 
education.  His  advantages  were  not  superior  to  those  of  thou 
sands  of  other  boys  of  his  age.  The  difference  in  their  careers 
was  not  caused  by  their  early  advantages  or  training  or  their  op 
portunities,  but  by  the  difference  in  themselves.  To  Senator 
Stanford's  ambition,  his  moral  character,  his  good  judgment, 
his  enterprise,  energy,  and  industry  must  be  mainly  attributed 
his  success.  Like  many  ambitious  young  men,  as  a  stepping- 
stone  to  something  else  "he  taught  a  country  school.  Knowing 
that  the  legal  profession  had  often  proved  a  means  of  of  politi 
cal  preferment  and  a  road  to  wealth,  he  read  law  and  was  admit 
ted  to  the  bar. 

440 


6 

When  gold  was  discovered  in  California  and  the  great  rush  to 
the  New  Eldorado  began.  Mr.  Stanford  joined  the  immigration  to 
that  Suite  to  seek  his  fortune  there.  It  is  unnecessary  to  trace 
his  career  in  his  new  home  step  by  step.  The  qualities  which 
had  before  enabled  him  to  steadily  advance  toward  fortune  and 
position  enabled  him  to  embrace  the  better  advantages  offering 
there.  They  also  attracted  the  attention  and  commanded  the 
respect  of  the  practical  and  enterprising  pioneers  of  the  new 
State,  and  his  nomination  and  election  as  governor  of  the  State 
naturally  followed. 

Neither  Mr.  Stanford  nor  his  associates  were  the  first  to  pro 
pose  a  transcontinental  railroad.  What  others  had  dreamed  of 
they  undertook  and  accomplished.  It  was  an  undertaking  which 
by  its  magnitude  appalled  more  timid  men.  The  enterprise 
proved  to  be  a  great  success.  The  faith  and  courage  of  its  pro 
moters  were  rewarded  and  the  foundations  of  great  fortunes 
laid. 

The  wealth  thus  acquired  made  the  subsequent  career  of  Mr. 
Stanford  possible,  enabled  him  to  promote  and  control  great 
enterprises  for  the  development  of  his  State,  to  liberally  patron 
ize  the  arts  and  sciences,  to  scatter  broadcast  the  blessings  of 
charity,  and  to  accomplish  the  last  crowning  act  of  his  life,  the 
founding  and  endowment  of  the  great  university  that  bears  the 
name  of  his  deceased  son.  His  knowledge  of  the  value  and  use  of 
money,  and  his  power  of  rightly  judging  men  and  measures  were 
largely  acquired  by  his  early  experiences  and  struggles,  and 
were  the  efficient  means  which  enabled  him  to  accumulate  his 
great  wealth.  It  would  be  idle  to  deny  that  unusual  opportuni 
ties  were  opened  up  to  him,  which  enabled  him  to  reach  the  top 
most  round  of  success,  but  too  much  of  the  results  of  his  life 
should  not  be  attributed  to  his  opportunities.  Some  men  seek 
out  and  create  opportunities.  Senator  Stanford  did  so. 

He  carved  out  for  himself  a  place  which  any  man  might  envy. 
At  a  time  when  it  required  courage  and  enterprise  to  cross  a 
continent  through  a  wilderness  and  desert,  encountering  hard 
ships  and  dangers,  he  left  the  civilization  of  the  older  States  and 
cast  his  lot  with  the  pioneers  of  the  Pacific  coast.  In  that  new 
country,  where  the  foundations  of  civilization  and  of  a  great  State 
were  being  laid,  his  good  judgment,  his  enterprise,  his  interest 
in  his  fellow-men  and  in  public  affairs  soon  made  his  presence 
felt  and  enabled  him  to  greatly  aid  in  the  establishment  of  or 
ganized  society. 

In  the  important  position  of  governor,  the  same  qualities  which 
had  brought  him  to  the  front  and  made  him  a  leader  of  men,  made 
his  administration  successful,  and  enabled  him  to  embrace  the 
opportunities  offered  for  the  development  of  his  State  and  the 
advancement  of  his  private  fortune.  No  one  but  a  self-reliant, 
enterprising,  public-spirited  man  would  have  ventured  upon  the 
great  and  hazardous  undertaking  of  constructing  a  railroad 
acrossacontinent,  over  almost  impassable  mountains,  and  through 
trackless  deserts.  The  success  of  the  great  enterprise  justified 
the  expectations  of  its  promoters  and  proved  the  soundness  of 
their  judgment. 

But  it  is  not  the  fact  that  Mr.  Stanford  was  governor  of  Cali 
fornia  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion  and  saved  his  State  to  the 
Union,  or  that  he  was  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  great  corpora- 

440 


tion  which  built  the  pioneer  railroad  across  the  continent  and 
bound  together  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  with  bands  of  steel,  or 
that  the  people  of  California  twice  honored  him  with  an  election 
to  the  United  States  Senate,  that  makes  his  name  to-day  a  house 
hold  word  and  causes  his  praise  to  be  on  every  tongue,  and  that 
will  perpetuate  his  memory  through  coming  years.  It  is  the 
fact  that  he  came  to  fully  recognize  the  claims  of  humanity  upon 
those  endowed  with  great  wealth  and  to  regard  his  wealth  as  a 
trust,  to  bo  managed  and  used  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good 
of  his  fellow-men.  His  character  was  like  that  described  by 
Shakespeare,  when  he  wrote: 

For  his  bounty 

There  was  no  winter  in't:  an  autumn  'twas 
That  grew  the  more  by  reaping. 

The  calls  upon  him  for  aid  to  religious,  educational,  and  chari 
table  institutions  and  to  individuals  were  so  numerous  and  con 
stant  that  it  is  not  improbable  that  sometimes  his  liberality  was 
imposed  upon  and  his  benevolence  misapplied,  but  in  the  main 
his  charities  were  bestowed  worthily  and  with  good  judgment. 

Of  his  career  in  this  body  1  need  not  speak  at  length.  He  was 
never  intrusive  or  self-asserting.  He  was  willing  to  leave  the 
work  of  the  Senate  mainly  to  other  and  younger  hands.  Al 
though  largely  occupied  with  other  cares  and  duties,  and  espe 
cially  with  the  plan  for  his  great  university,  and  afflicted  with 
bodily  infirmities,  the  interests  of  his  State  in  Congress  were 
never  neglected.  His  counsel  was  always  valuable,  and  his 
kindness  of  heart,  his  benevolence,  and  his  love  for  humanity, 
which  were  manifested  in  all  he  said  and  did,  made  his  presence 
among  us  a  blessing.  Coming  to  the  Senate  at  an  advanced  age, 
without  previous  experience  in  legislative  bodies,  with  other 

treat  cares  and  responsibilities,  and  with  enfeebled  health,  he 
id  not  assert  himself  or  take  that  commanding  position  in  the 
Senate  which  he  would  naturally  have  done  if  he  had  entered 
that  body  at  an  earlier  period  in  his  life  and  when  in  the  full 
vigor  of  manhood. 

Confessedly,  the  idea  of  founding  and  endowing  a  great  uni 
versity  grew  out  of  his  great  bereavement  in  the  loss  of  his  only 
son.  The  stricken  parents  appear  to  have  transferred  the  solic 
itude,  time,  and  labor  which  had  before  been  given  to  the  prom 
ising  object  of  their  affections  to  humanity. 

The  declaration  of  Senator  and  Mrs.  Stanford,  made  while  their 
hearts  were  still  freshly  bleeding  on  account  of  their  great  afflic 
tion,  that  "the  children  of  California  shall  be  our  children,"  was 
almost  sublime. 

How  grandly  was  this  declaration  made  good.  How  better 
could  the  children  of  California — yea,  the  children  of  the  entire 
Union,  of  this  generation  and  of  generations  to  come — have  been 
made  the  beneficiaries  of  his  great  wealth  than  by  the  founding 
and  munificent  endowment  of  a  great  university,  at  which  the 
children  of  the  poor  as  well  as  those  of  the  rich  have  an  oppor 
tunity  to  secure  such  an  education  as  is  usually  only  within  the 
reach  of  the  wealthy,  a  university  which  is  destined  to  be  en 
during  and  to  exert  an  incalculable  influence  for  good  upon  the 
future  of  this  country. 
Senator  Stanford  devoted  his  time  and  his  strength  to  the  last 

440 


8 

to  the  great  scheme  of  his  life.  With  failing  strength,  with 
increasing  infirmities,  with  the  evident  consciousness  that  the 
closing  scene  of  earth  for  him  could  not  be  far  distant,  with  se 
renity,  with  patient,  painstaking  industry,  the  whole  plan  and 
all  the  details  of  the  great  university  were  constantly  in  his  mind 
and  received  his  p3rsonal  attention.  His  great  desire  was  to 
leave  the  great  undertaking  in  as  advanced  a  condition  as  possi 
ble. 

To  the  casual  observer  it  would  appear  as  if  Senator  Stan 
ford's  early  dreams  had  become  realities,  his  hopes  had  reached 
fruition,  and  his  ambitions  had  been  gratified,  and  yet  all  of  us 
know  how  little  he  prized  worldly  possessions,  worldly  honors, 
and  worldly  successes.  How,  when  the  idol  of  his  life,  his  promis 
ing  and  beautiful  boy  was  taken  from  him  and  his  fondest  earthly 
hopes  perished,  all  his  possessions  became  to  him  like  apples  of 
Sodom. 

The  career  of  our  late  associate  is  not  only  an  example  worthy 
of  emulation  by  American  yout.h,  but  worthy  to  be  followed  by 
those  whom  fortune  has  blessed  with  wealth. 

Men  with  large  wealth  have  comparatively  large  duties. 
Happy  is  the  man  blessed  with  great  wealth  who  recognizes  his 
responsibility  to  God  and  his  moral  obligations  to  his  fellow  men 
and  who  embraces  the  opportunities  presenting  themselves  to 
discharge  those  obligations.  In  the  great  effort  to  alleviate  hu- 
nrtn  suffering,  to  educate  and  elevate  the  race,  to  advance  moral 
reforms,  to  make  the  masses  comfortable,  intelligent,  virtuous, 
and  independent,  the  wealthy  are  rightly  expected  to  lead.  It 
is  a  blessed  as  well  as  solemn  thing  to  possess  more  power  for 
good  than  other  men,  and  fortunate  is  the  man  possessing  an 
abundance  of  that  which  is  calculated  to  minister  to  the  weal  of 
the  race  who  welcomes  and  embraces  opportunities  to  bless  man 
kind. 

The  duty  of  benevolence,  however,  is  not  confined  to  tho  rich. 
The  less  favored  by  fortune  have  responsibilities  and  duties  in 
proportion  to  their  means.  The  poor  may  dispense  charity  as 
well  as  the  rich.  The  giving  of  silver  and  gold  alone  doss'not 
constitute  charity.  The  kind  interest,  the  words  of  sympathy 
and  encouragement  which  always  accompanied  Senator  Stan 
ford's  gifts  were  more  grateful  than  the  gold  itself.  All  can 
contribute  something  to  make  the  world  better  and  mankind 
happier. 

A  nameless  man.  among  a  crowd  that  thronged  the  daily  mart, 
Let  fall  a  word  of  hope  and  love,  unstudied  from  the  heart: 
A  whisper  on  the  tumult  thrown,  a  transitory  breath. 
It  raised  a  brother  from  the  dust,  it  saved  a  soul  from  death. 

With  wealth  which  could  command  everything  which  human 
heart  could  desire,  and  which  enabled  him  to  scatter  blessings 
as  flowers  sc  itter  fragrance;  full  of  honors,  representing  the 
great  State  of  California  for  a  second  term  in  the  United  St  .tes 
Senate;  engaged  in  carrying  out  the  crowning  act  of  his  life  for 
the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men,  our  brother  was  transported,  prob 
ably  in  an  instant,  from  the  scenes  of  his  earthly  possessions  and 
activities  to  the  spirit  world.  Happy  those  who.  like  him  we 
mourn,  are  content  to  tread  the  path  of  duty  and  do  faithfully 
and  well  the  work  their  hands  find  to  do  in  this  world,  and,  trust- 

440 


9 

ing  to  a  merciful  Creator  for  the  next,  wait  the  end  with  serene 
hope  and  confidence. 

The  realm  of  death  seems  an  enemy's  country  to  most  men,  on  whose 
shores  they  are  loathly  driven  by  stress  of  weataer;  to  the  wise  man  it 
is  the  desired  port  where  he  moors  his  bark  gladly,  as  in  some  quiet  haven 
of  the  Fortunate  Isles;  it  is  the  golden  we.-it  into  which  the  sun  sinks,  and 
sinking,  casts  back  a  glory  upon  the  leaden  cloud-tack  which  had  darkly  be 
sieged  his  day. 

By  the  death  of  our  brother  we  are  again  reminded  of  the  un 
alterable  decree  which  dooms  all  flesh  to  the  grave.  We  are 
compelled  to  pause  amid  the  rush  of  worldly  pursuits  and  the 
clash  of  worldly  controversies  to  consider  the  end  of  man.  We 
behold  everywhere  about  us  the  succession  of  birth,  life,  and 
doath.  Nature  tells  of  no  escape  from  the  inevitable  law  of  our 
being  and  affords  no  ground  for  hope  for  the  future. 

Generations  of  men  appear  and  vanish  as  the  grass,  and  the  countless 
multitudes  that  throng  the  world  to-day  will  to-morrow  disappear  as  the 
footsteps  on  the  shore. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  hope  that  is  inspired  by  revelation  of  a 
resurrection  and  future  life,  how  desolate  and  gloomy  would  be 
the  grave,  how  empty  and  fruitless  would  human  life  appear. 

Our  departed  brother  was  a  Christian  man.  His  faith  was 
simple  and  unfaltering  and  was  the  mainspring  of  his  philan- 
throphy.  Religion  was  a  common  and  favorite  theme  with  him. 
He  regarded  God  as  a  merciful  father  and  mankind  as  a  great 
brotherhood.  His  gifts  to  aid  Christian  institutions  and  Chris- 
ti  in  efforts  were  numerous  and  princely.  He  died  in  a  firm  be 
lief  that  he  should  awaken  in  the  spirit  land  to  behold  his  God 
a  :d  embrace  his  loved  ones  gone  before.  Hnppy,  indeed,  is  the 
possessor  of  such  a  faith — a  faith  which  enables  him  to  say  with 
the  poet: 

There  is  no  death !    But  angel  forms 

VvalH  o'er  the  earth  with  snent  irtad; 

They  bear  our  best-loved  things  away, 

And  then  we  call  them  "dead." 

Our  brother  has  gone  from  us  forever.  He  will  have  no  further 
part  in  all  th  it  is  done  under  the  bun.  He  sleeps  the  si  ep  that 
knows  no  waking,  near  the  great  nstitut  on  he  so  liberally  en 
dowed.  The  great  scheme  th  t  absorbed  his  energies  in  later 
years  will  be  carried  on  by  others. 

Thousands  of  young  men  in  coming  years,  aided  by  his  wise 
benevolence,  will  there  equip  themselves  for  life's  duties,  and 
his  benevolence,  through  them,  will  be  transmitted  to  later  gen 
erations.  The  students  in  after  years  enjoying  the  fruits  of  his 
liberality  will  stand  with  reverence  at  his  tomb  and  repeat  his 
praises.  The  fruitful  vineyards  and  orchards  at  Palo  Alto  will 
bud.  blossom,  and  yield  their  fruitage;  the  flowers  will  come  in 
the  springtime  to  scatter  their  fragrance;  generations  will  come 
and  go:  time  will  change  the  very  face  of  nature;  but  nothing 
will  dist-vb  his  repose.  He  has  solved  the  great  mystery  of  life 
and  death. 

Thouga  dead,  his  works  live  after  him,  and  will  live  and  exert 
their  influence  for  good  to  the  latest  generations. 

Mr.  PEFFER.  Mr.  President,  my  earliest  information  con 
cerning  the  man  Leland  Stanford  came  through  the  public 
press  in  the  way  of  news  reporting  the  operation  of  great  busi- 

440 


10 

ness  enterprises  in  which  he  was  engaged  in  regions  bordering 
on  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

It  was  at  a  time  when  the  transportation  system  of  the  coun 
try  was  developing  with  wonderful  progress  and  other  strong 
minds  in  other  sections  were  building  and  managing  other  great 
railway  lines.  These  skillful  carriers  in  a  few  years  constructed 
the  most  stupendous  traffic  connections  ever  known  among  men. 
Mr.  Stanford  was  recognized  as  the  peer  of  any  among  these 
master  builders.  His  standing  was  attested  not  only  by  his 
work  as  a  carrier,  but  as  well  by  his  growth  in  personal  fortune 
and  by  his  prudent  management  of  a  large  private  business. 

In  that  view  of  him  I  regarded  him  simply  as  one  among  many 
strong  men  seeking  wealth  and  the  power  and  influence  which 
comes  with  success. 

If  there  were  no  object  other  or  better  than  the  gratification 
of  avarice,  the  accumulation  of  riches  is  a  most  ignoble  pursuit, 
and  we  can  not  tell  what  motives  impel  men  to  action  until  we  see 
what  disposition  they  make  of  their  opportunities.  It  was  then 
too  soon  to  measure  the  full  stature  of  this  man. 

Early  in  the  year  1890  I  saw  him  in  another  and  a  wider  field, 
acting  on  a  higher  plane,  where  there  was  more  room  for  the 
play  of  his  intellectual  powers.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Ameri 
can  Senate,  charged  with  the  responsibilities  of  legislation  for 
a  mighty  people.  Having  begun  in  private  life  devising  means 
for  the  distribution  of  movable  property— the  products  of  labor — 
among  the  people  in  different  places,  nothing  was  more  natural 
or  logical  than  that  when  he  entered  public  life  he  should  begin 
a  study  of  means  for  the  diffusion  of  the  values  of  labor's  work. 
As  in  his  private  capacity  he  had  builded  great  traffic  lines  to 
carry  property  long  distances,  so  when  he  entered  the  field  of 
politics  he  saw  the  need  of  improved  and  enlarged  facilities  for 
the  easy  and  quick  exchanges  of  the  value  of  property  through 
a  more  general  and  less  expensive  means  of  passing  from  hand 
what  the  people  agree  in  their  laws  shall  represent  values. 

It  was  in  this  grand  work  that  I  saw  him  the  second  time — 
not  by  physical  sight,  but  through  the  eyes  of  the  press.  He  in 
troduced  a  bill  in  the  Senate  to  increase  the  circulating  medium, 
and  to  afford  money  to  borrowers  at  low  rates  of  interest.  From 
his  own  experience  and  from  his  observations  among  men,  he 
saw  that  through  the  destroying  power  of  usury  the  profits  of 
labor  were  being  rapidly  absorbed  by  comparatively  a  few  per 
sons,  and  he  saw  also  that  this  process  must  be  arrested  if  we 
would  preserve  our  liberties  and  perpetuate  the  Republic.  As  a 
plain  business  proposition  he  saw  that  there  was  but  one  reasona 
ble  way  to  effect  that  result,  and  he  presented  his  plan  to  the 
country  in  a  short  speech  in  this  Chamber,  advocating  his  land 
loan  bill. 

My  personal  acquaintance  with  him  began  after  I  been  me  a 
member  of  this  body,  and  it  soon  ripened  into  a  friendship  which 
lam  pleased  to  state  in  this  presence  waxed  warmer  and  stronger 
as  it  grew  older. 

As  the  years  of  his  life  passed  behind  him  and  as  the  shadows 
of  evening  began  to  gather  about  him,  his  sympathy  with  the 
poor  and  toiling  masses  of  his  fellow-men  grew  stronger  and 
stronger,  until  it  became  a  ruling-  passion;  and  here  is  wnere  he 
rose  to  the  full  stature  of  a  noble  man.  Having  amassed  a  vast 

440 


11 

fortune,  his  real  estata  embracing1  over  80,000  acres  of  choice 
California  lands,  being1  in  receipt  of  a  large  annual  income,  he 
was  moved  to  devise  means  whereby  others  beside  himself,  and 
those  who  most  need  assistance,  should  share  with  him  hisg-ood 
fortune. 

And,  what  is  more  and  better,  his  plan  involved  the  operation 
of  good  influences  moving  out  through  the  education  of  young 
men  and  women  whose  early  training,  traditions,  and  troubles 
would  probably  always  keep  them  close  to  the  common  people. 
The  Stanford  University  will  send  out  among  the  people  evan 
gels  of  good  will,  sowing  that  others  may  reap. 

And  here,  Mr.  President,  is  where  we  see  the  best,  the  noblest, 
the  grandest  work  of  Leland  Stanford.  He  went  down  to  the 
grave  honored  by  his  fellow-citizens  because  in  private  life  and 
in  public  station  he  had  been  capable,  faithful,  and  true.  But 
the  brightest  gems  his  memory  wears  are  the  prayers  and  tears 
of  the  poor  whose  lives  his  kindness  made  happier  and  brighter. 

And  to  the  woman  who  knew  him  be  stand  loved  him  most,  let 
me  say  that  there  is  no  higher  plane  for  her  sex,  no  more  fruitful 
ambition,  no  riper  field  for  action  than  to  be  the  life  partner  and 
the  coworker  of  a  man  that  is  doing  good  to  his  fellow-men. 
Mrs.  Stanford,  in  the  darkness  of  her  sorrow,  enjoys  the  sym 
pathy  of  millions  who  would  gladly  bear  her  burdens.  May  the 
evening  of  her  life  be  brightened  by  rays  from  the  other  shore, 
where  the  morning  of  a  new  day  awaits  her  coming. 

Mr.  MITCHELL  of  Oregon.  Mr.  President,  it  is  not  my  pur 
pose  to  attempt  any  extended  elogium  over  the  late  distinguished 
Senator.  To  do  that  would  require  a  carefully  prepared  state 
ment  of  his  life  from  birth  to  death,  from  humble  poverty  to  that 
of  vast  wealth,  from  jovial  schoolboy  days  to  unusual  triumphs  as 
a  financier,  statesman,  philanthropist.  All  this  belongs  prop 
erly  to  the  historian,  not  to  us  here  or  now. 

In  justice,  therefore,  to  the  name  and  memory  of  the  distin 
guished  dead,  I  must  not  attempt  at  this  time  to  do  more  than 
add  a  word  of  tribute  to  that  which  has  been  already  so  well 
said  to  the  memory  of  our  late  distinguished  colleague  and  friend; 
one  highly  esteemed  and  loved  by  all,  and  whose  name  and  the 
remembrance  of  whose  genial,  courteous  nature  and  kindly  acts, 
whose  record  as  a  statesman  and  philanthropist,  will  live  as  a 
part  of  the  history  of  America,  so  long  as  that  history  shall  en 
dure  among  the  annals  of  time. 

The  history  of  the  life  of  Leland  Stanford,  late  a  Senator  from 
the  State  of  California,  is  pregnant  with  lessons  of  instruction, 
filled  with  food  for  meditation.  It  presents  a  conspicuous  ex 
emplification  of  that  phenomenal  success  in  different  spheres  of 
life — social,  business,  political — the  attainment  of  which  is  pos 
sible  by  every  American  youth  possessed  of  intelligence,  indus 
try,  and  integrity. 

Leland  Stanford,  we  are  told,  was  a  farmer's  son.  He  was  not 
a  product  of  the  city.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm.  Nor  did  he, 
although  of  excellent  line  ige,  ever  claim  any  part  of  his  success 
in  life  as  due  to  ancestral  distinction. 

In  his  youth  and  early  manhood  he  breathed  the  pure  air  of 
country  life.  His  early  habits  were  formed  under  the  benign 
influence,  and  his  character  molded  under  the  beneficent  direc- 

440 


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tio'i.  «>f  i)())i-  but  int  >lligent  pirents,  whose  lives  in  the  country 
regions  of  New  York  spoke  but  one  language,  that  of  humble 
deportment,  genuine  integrity,  a  spirit  of  energy  and  philan 
thropic  development,  and  absolute  fidelity  to  every, public  and 
private  trust. 

It  is  from  beginnings  such  as  these  that  have  sprung  the  master 
minds  which  have  left  their  impress  on  the  pages  of  our  nation's 
history,  as  statesmen,  military  heroes,  financiers,  scientists, 
philanthropists,  and  as  great  leaders  in  every  department  of  life. 
To  such  an  ancestry,  to  such  an  education  in  early  life,  could 
Lf  land  Stanford  look  back  with  an  enthusiasm  of  pardonable 
pride,  but  never  more  s  >  in  all  the  magnificent  successes  which 
attended  him  in  his  eminently  successful  life,  in  what  may  prop 
erly  be  termed  his  triumphant  career  as  a  financier  and  statesman, 
th  in  when  he  h  ad  reached  the  acme  of  that  career.  Then,  doubt 
less,  more  than  ever  before  his  mind  reverted  with  conscious 
pride  to  his  humble  home,  his  primitive  country  life,  where, 
amid  the  perfumes  of  the  wild  flowers  and  the  songs  of  the  bab 
bling  brooks  of  his  country  home  in  the  green  fields  of  the  beau 
tiful  Mohawk,  he  spent  his  boyhood  days. 

To  no  titled  ancestry,  to  no  long  line  of  hereditary  heroes,  was 
our  late  distinguished  colleague  compelled  to  trace  his  lineage 
or  attribute  the  credit  of  his  remarkable  successes.  He  was  an 
American.  To  this  alone,  coupled  with  unusual  intellectual  at 
tainments,  his  integrity,  his  industry,  his  organizing  power,  is 
he  indebted  to  the  fame  that  is  his,  and  that  will  be  his,  per 
petuated  through  his  magnificent  benefactions,  while  the  State 
and  the  country  in  which  he  lived,  and  of  which  he  was  a  con 
spicuous  part,  continue  to  endure. 

It  is  not  that  Leland  Stanford  was  possessed  of  great  wealth 
that  he  was  commended  while  living  to  the  kindly  consideration 
of  his  fellow-men,  nor  for  this  reason  is  it  that  his  name  and 
memory  are  now  embalmel  in  the  affections  of  his  countrymen. 
Great  wealth  concentrated  in  one  individual  is  a  mighty  power 
either  for  good  or  evil.  In  some  men,  as  with  Senator  Stan 
ford,  it  develops  all  those  grand  elements  of  human  nature  the 
influence  of  which  brought  into  active  operation  diffuses  bene 
factions  in  all  directions,  while  in  others  it  transforms  its  pos 
sessor  into  a  miser,  whom  one  lexicographer  characterize-?  as 
"one  who  is  wretched  through  covetousness;  one  who  lives 
miserably  through  fear  of  poverty  and  hoards  beyond  a  prudent 
economy;  a  pers  m  excessively  penurious:"  and  another,  as  "  a 
man  who  enslaves  him  elf  to  his  money." 

It  is  due  to  the  memory  of  the  distinguished  dead  to  state  that 
as  he  increased  in  wealth  and  advanced  in  ye  irs  his  mind  seemed 
constantly  occupied  in  contriving  how  he  could,  either  through 
the  instrumentality  of  the  great  means  he  possessed,  or  in  his 
position  as  Senator,  benefit  the  weak,  the  poor,  the  lowly.  He 
did  not  aspire  to  perpetuate  his  name  by  erecting  useless  mauso 
leums  of  brick,  or  stone,  or  m  irble.  commemorative  of  some  mere 
sentiment,  or  link  it  with  those  of  the  rich,  the  great,  the  pow 
erful.  On  the  contrary,  the  rising  generation,  the  youth  of  the 
land,  the  great  masses  of  the  "  plain  people,"  who  constitute  the 
toiling  millions  of  our  country,  had  his  first  and  oest  thought, 
and  to  the  promotion  and  preservation  of  their  best  interests  he 
dedicated  his  intellectual  powers,  as  also  millions  of  his  wealth. 

440 


13 

Whatever  may  be  thought  by  some  of  the  practical  utility  of 
his  financial  scheme,  which  he  so  earnestly  and  ably  advocated 
and  which  was  approved  by  millions  of  his  countrymen,  for  the 
loaning  of  money  by  the  United  States  direct  to  the  people  at  a 
low  rate  of  interest,  taking  mortgages  on  farms  as  security,  all 
will  now  agree  it  indicated  in  unmistakable  terms  a  philan 
thropic  spirit,  an  earnest  desire  to  aid,  through  the  instrumen 
tality  of  what  he  regarded  as  constitutional  and  proper  govern 
mental  influence,  not  the  great  moneyed  institutions  of  the  coun 
try,  not  the  vast  corporations  of  the  land,  with  several  of  which 
he  was  prominently  identified  in  a  business  way,  but  rather  the 
great  masses  of  the  producers,  the  farmers,  the  planters,  and  the 
wage- workers  of  the  country.  In  his  capacity  as  Senator,  legis 
lation  having  for  its  purpose  the  minimizing  of  illiteracy,  the 
promotion  of  the  education  of  the  rising  generation,  the  advance 
ment  of  our  people  to  a  higher  degree  of  intelligence,  received 
his  constant,  earnest,  and  efficient  support.  He  was  an  ardent 
advocate  of  national  aid  in  the  establishment  and  support  of 
common  schools.  He  believed  with  Lord  Kames,  who,  in  his 
"  Elements  of  Criticism,"  said: 

In  the  first  seven  years  of  our  life  we  acquire  a  greater  number  of  ideas 
than  ever  after. 

And  with  another  celebrated  philosopher,  who  declared  that — 

The  education  a  child  receives  in  the  first  five  years  of  its  life  is  of  more 
importance  than  all  after  education  and  has  more  influence  in  forming  the 
child's  character. 

He  was,  moreover,  the  promoter  and  able  advocate  of  legisla 
tion  having  for  its  purpose  the  organization  of  cooperative  asso 
ciations,  the  main  purpose  of  which  was  to  enable  those  who  had 
but  little  capital  and  could  control  but  little  to  reap,  through  such 
cooperative  organizations,  the  legitimate  benefits  and  honest 
fruits  which  naturally  flow  from  aggregated  capital  properly 
employed. 

Although  prominently  identified  with  several  corporations 
carrying  millions  of  capital  and  the  interests  of  which  were  lia 
ble  at  times  to  be  materially  advanced  by  pending  national  leg 
islation,  the  truth  of  history  requires  it  to  be  said  that  in  the 
legislative  career  of  Senator  Stanford  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  never  once  was  his  voice  raised  in  advocacy  of  any  such 
legislation,  and  to  no  vote  of  his  can  be  attributed  any  aid  to 
legislation  of  that  character. 

Senator  Stanford  was  in  disposition  and  character  exception 
ally  modest,  reserved,  retiring.  His  great  wealth,  his  prominence 
in  connection  with  those  great  enterprises  of  physical  develop 
ment,  the  transcontinental  railroads,  the  magnitude  and  na 
tional  effect  of  which  commanded  the  admiration  of  the  world,  in 
stead  of  clothing  him  with  a  haughty  and  aristocratic  air,  seemed 
to  stimulate  within  him  those  elements  of  true  manhood  which, 
under  all  conditions  and  at  all  times,  recognize  real  personal  in 
tegrity  and  worth  as  the  touchstone  of  true  merit,  irrespective 
of  all  considerations  of  wealth  on  the  one  hand  or  poverty  on 
the  other. 

In  private  conversation  Senator  Stanford  was  most  interesting, 
attractive,  and  instructive.  Thoroughly  versed  in  historic  litera 
ture,  with  a  philosophic  turn  of  mind,  a  heart  whose  kindly  in- 

440 


14 

fluence  ever  found  expression  in  every. word  and  look  and  act, 
one  never  returned  from  an  evening- spent  in  the  company  of  that 
exceptionally  good  man,  as  I  have  for  many  years  believed  him 
to  be,  without  a  feeling  that  it  was  an  evening  spent  in  such  man 
ner  that  one  was  wiser  and  better  for  it. 

The  people  of  the  great  West— of  that  vast  region  lying  be 
tween  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  waters  of  the  Pacific,  with 
all  its  present  elements  of  greatness  and  power,  and  unspeakable 
possibilities  as  to  the  future — have  much  reason  to  sincerely  de 
plore,  as  they  do  sincerely  mourn,  the  death  of  Leland  Stanford. 
To  him  and  his  business  associates  do  we  feel  indebted  in  a  large 
degree  for  that  physical  development  of  our  country  which  has 
brought  us  in'o  close  social  and  business  connection  with  the 
civilization  of  the  East,  and  made  us  more  nearly  and  directly 
a  constituent  part  of  the  grand  civilization  of  the  American  Re 
public,  which  to-day  commands  the  respect  and  admiration  of 
mankind.  Through  the  forceful  enterprise  of  Leland  Stanford 
and  his  associatas  the  great  mineral  deposits  of  those  distant 
regions,  which  have  added  thousands  of  millions  of  gold  and  sil 
ver  to  the  national  wealth,  to  say  nothing  of  other  great  indus 
tries  of  that  magnificent  region,  have  been  developed. 

The  grand  old  poet  Horace,  in  his  vanity,  proclaimed  his  own 
greatness  and  the  perpetuation  of  his  name  by  his  works  when 
he  said: 

I've  reared  a  monument,  my  own,  more  durable  than  brass, 
Yea,  kingly  pyramids  of  stone  in  height  it  doth  surpass. 
Rains  shall  not  fall  nor  storms  descend  to  sap  its  settled  base, 
Nor  countless  ages  rolling  past,  its  symmetry  deface. 

But,  Mr.  President,  what  are  the  benefactions  which  posterity 
has  reaped  from  the  monument  reared  by  Horace  centuries  ago, 
and  to  which  he  so  be  iutif  ully  attracted  the  attention  o!  man 
kind,  and  the  glories  of  which  have  been  perpetuated  by  his  own 
eulogy,  to  those  conferred  on  posterity  by  the  munificence  of  our 
distinguished  dead  at  Palo  Alto.  There  by  a  gift,  unequaled 
in  its  munificence  by  that  of  any  philanthropist  that  ever  lived 
in  America  or  in  the  world,  have  been  laid  the  foundations  and 
erected  the  stately  columns,  and  endowed  with  all  the  professor 
ships  and  paraphernalia  properly  pertaining  to  it,  an  institution 
of  learning,  a  grand  university,  on  a  scale  far  excelling  any 
other,  that  will  forever  hand  down  to  the  remotest  generations, 
not  only  the  names  of  Leland  Stanford  and  his  beloved,  talented, 
and  philanthropic  wife,  but  also  that  of  h  is  only  and  idolized 
son — Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  whose  name  the  great  university 
bears. 

What,  Mr.  President,  can  I  say  in  addition  to  what  has  already 
been  said  to  indicate  my  estimate  of  the  character  of  our  late 
distinguished  colleague.  He  was  a  man  of  kind  and  generous 
heart.  He  was  far  above  the  average  in  those  grand  qualities 
which  go  to  make  up  the  man  of  affairs.  He  was  conspicuous  as 
a  leader  and  organizer  of  men  in  the  mighty  march  of  material 
development  in  the  far  West,  and  in  the  onward  progress  of  the 
civilization  of  the  age  in  which  we  live.  He  asserted  himself  as 
a  master  mind  in  the  legislation  of  his  time — both  State  and  na 
tional.  As  governor  of  his  State  during  the  exciting  and  trou 
blous  period  of  the  war,  as  Senator  in  the  United  States  Senate 
from  the  great  State  of  California,  as  final* cier  and  philanthro- 

440 


15 

phist,  his  record  is  meritorious  in  the  highest  degree,  wholly 
free  from  blot  or  blemish,  and  absolutely  unassailable  in  any 
respect  whatever.  His  name  is  prominently  coupled  and  will 
forever  remain  with  the  construction  of  the  first  transcontinental 
railroad  of  the  country  which  connected  the  civilization  of  the 
East  with  that  of  the  West.  Indeed,  he  was  one  of  the  pro 
moters  and  builders  of  that  great  enterprise. 

And  Mr.  President,  while  we  here  to-day  commemorate  the 
virtues  of  and  pay  tribute  to  the  memory  of  our  late  distin 
guished  colleague,  our  personal  friend,  let  us  not  forget  the 
widow  in  her  desolation.  Far  away  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific, 
surrounded,  it  is  true,  by  all  the  comforts  and  luxuries  which 
wealth  and  social  distinction  c  in  bring,  sits  to-day  in  her  widow's 
weeds,  in  gloomy  solitude,  overwhelmed  with  a  sorrow  that  can 
not  be  measured  by  either  tongue  or  pen,  the  once  happy  bride 
-of  forty-three  years  ago,  now  the  disconsolate  widow  "of  three 
months  ago. 

First  came  the  remorseless  reaper,  and  beneath  the  sunny 
skies  of  Italy,  far  away  from  home,  snatched  from  loving  parents 
the  sole  child,  the  idolized  son  on  whom  so  many  high  hopes,  the 
outgrowth  of  parental  solicitude,  were  centered,  and,  without 
request  or  consent,  tore  him  away  to  "  that  undiscovered  coun 
try  from  whose  bourne  no  traveler  returns:"  and  then,  scarce  be 
fore  the  darkening  shadows  of  this  inexpressible  grief  had  lifted 
their  gloom  from  the  home  life  of  our  distinguished  friend  and 
his  faithful  companion,  the  remorseless  enemy  with  stealthy 
tread  again  returns  with  seeming  determination  to  assert  in  un 
mistakable  terms  within  that  household  the  primacy  and  power 
of  that  supreme  intelligence  which  controls  the  affairs  and  de 
termines  the  destinies  of  men  and  in  the  silent  hours  of  night, 
with  no  word  of  warning,  closes  forever  the  eyes  of  our  late  col 
league,  the  loving  husband  of  a  wife  already  overwhelmed  with 
sorrow.  To  that  widow  to-day  in  her  deep  sorrow  goes  out  the 
sympathy  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  We  want  her 
to  understand,  to  fully  realize  we  do  not  fail  to  comprehend  the 
depths  of  her  grief,  and  that  our  sympathy  for  her  in  her  great 
affliction  is  heartfelt  and  sincere. 

We  wish  her  to  know  that  we,  with  her,  believe,  that  beyond 
this  vale  of  tears,  when  the  sorrows  and  griefs  of  parting  in  this 
life  shall  forever  fade  away,  that  in  the  eternal  and  perfect  home 
of  the  Elysian  fields,  in  that  "undiscovered  country  "upon  whose 
hidden  shores  the  eyes  of  mortal  man  have  never  yet  rested, 
there  will  in  the  dawning  future  be  a  reunion  of  kindred  spirits, 
a  joyful,  gladsome  meeting  of  father,  mother,  husband,  wife, 
child,  and  that  such  reunion,  in  the  grand  economy  of  the  Great 
Architect  of  the  Universe,  will  be  but  the  beginning  of  a  life  of 
eternal  joy. 

Mr.  DANIEL.  Mr.  President,  the  late  Senator  Leland  Stan 
ford,  of  California,  was  a  great  man,  and  one  of  the  most  re 
markable  characters  that  this  country  has  produced.  His  career 
was  on  a  gigantic  scale,  like  the  natural  features  of  our  imperial 
domain,  and  like  the  mighty  facts  of  our  marvelous  history. 

His  story  from  the  time  he  went  to  the  West,  an  adventurous 
young  man  seeking  his  fortune,  to  the  time  when  he  became  a 
great  railroad  builder,  governor,  Senator,  and  a  very  Croesus  in 

440 


possessions,  reads  like  an  Ar  bian  tale,  ''in  the  golden  prime  of 
good  Haroun  Al  Liaschid." 

There  was  nothing  small  about  him.  Of  massive  frame,  mas 
sive  head.  ami  massive  mind,  he  was  also  a  mtinoi  great  heart. 
And  great  and  beneficent  works  remain  as  his  enduring  monu 
ments.  Like  George  Peabody  and  W.  W.  Corcoran,  he  was  a 
philanthropist.  To  give  was  to  him  a  joy — to  give  quickly,  to 
give  often,  and  to  give  much.  "  The  Lord,"  we  are  told,  "  loveth 
a  cheerful  giver,'  and  such  was  Leland  Stanford,  of  California. 

Senator  Stanford  deserves  the  name  of  patriot.  He  was  the 
governor  of  California  during  the  most  strained  and  excited 
period  of  its  history — the  civil  war.  In  his  conduct  of  that  of 
fice  he  exhibited  his  breadth  of  mind  and  demonstrated  that 
breadth  of  mind  can  never  be  separated  from  breadth  of  heart. 
Instead  of  harshness  and  severity  he  applied  to  the  disturbed 
conditions  of  public  sentiment,  arising  from  conflicting  views, 
the  ameliorating  influences  of  moderation,  kindness,  and  friendly 
counsel.  He  brought  men  together  who  were  indulging  in  ve 
hement  and  inflammatory  utterances.  He  pointed  out  to  them 
that  they  could  accomplish  no  good  by  a  querulous  and  incen 
diary  course;  that  if  they  became  bitter  and  venomous  toward 
each  other  they  would  be  no  nearer  the  accomplishment  of  their 
ends,  but  would  poison  the  society  of  the  State  for  many  years  to 
come.  And  he  succeeded  by  his  firm,  temperate,  and  generous 
course  in  abating  the  miseries  of  int3rnecine  strife  and  preserved 
his  people  in  the  harmonies  of  friendship. 

Senator  Stanford  was  a  firm  and  strong  Republican.  He  w^as 
one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Republican  party.  He  believed  in  its 
doctrines,  he  had  faith  in  its  mission,  and  he  seemed  to  me  to 
love  his  party  with  a  sort  of  ideal  affection.  Yet,  this  enthusi 
asm  for  party  creeds  and  party  leaders  found  no  expression  in 
harshness,  hatred,  or  narrowness  of  opinion  or  action.  He  would 
differ  from  his  party  when  he  thought  the  occasion  juustifiedit, 
both  as  to  measures  and  as  to  men.  He  did  not  look  upon  his  op 
ponents  as  enemies.  He  appreciated  the  genius  of  their  action, 
and  the  influences  of  their  environments  and  education.  He 
knew  they  were  as  sincere  as  he  was,  he  acknowledged  their 
rights  to  differ  with  him  cind  his,  and  he  always  retained  their 
respect  and  confidence. 

Senator  Stanford  was  not  sectional  in  his  feelings.  However 
much  he  was  imbued  with  the  ideas  of  the  North,  in  which  he 
WLIS  born,  and  with  the  ideas  of  the  West,  of  which  he  became 
the  adopted  son.  he  really  felt  toward  all  the  people  of  this  land 
as  if  they  were  his  countrymen,  entitled  to  his  consideration,  and 
to  his  friendly  interests  in  their  behalf.  I  have  often  heard  him 
talk  about  the  social  problems  which  we  have  before  us,  the 
problems  of  labor,  and  money,  and  transportation,  and  especially 
of  the  race  problem,  of  which  he  saw  much  in  California,  and  of 
which  he  knew  much  as  it  affects  the  South. 

I  think  he  understood  the  Southern  situation  as  well  as  any 
man  could  who  has  never  lived  in  that  section.  I  think  he  sym 
pathized  with  the  delicate  conditions  there  to  be  dealt  with  as 
much  as  any  man  could  who  was  not  one  of  the  vicinage,  and  I 
know  that  it  was  his  earnest  hope  and  desire  that  time  and  na 
ture,  the  great  healers  of  wounds  and  the  great  builders  of  things 
that  last,  might  be  left  to  work  out  the  problem  that  the  South- 


17       , 

ern  people  have  to  contend  with.  Especially  was  he  distressed, 
at  the  idea  of  rude  measures  being1  adopted.  He  knew'that  the 
conception  of  them  sprung  from  irritated  minds,  and  from  mis 
conceptions  of  possibilities.  He  knew  that  they  would  result  in* 
intensifying  the  evils  which  they  would  vainly  seek  to  correct, 
He  knew  that  in  the  social  constitution,  as  in  the  physical  con 
stitution,  of  man  there  are  diseases  and  perturbations  which  no 
physician  can  reach,  either  with  compounded  medicines  or  with 
the  touch  of  surgical  instrument,  and  that  rest  and  nutrition  and 
cheerful  words  are  often  the  only  remedial  agents. 

Senator  Stanford's  mind  was  of  a  very  peculiar  order,  and  his 
experiences  so  differed  from  that  of  the  ordinary  man  that  his 
conversation  was  singularly  striking  and  interesting.  He  loved 
to  relate  reminiscences  of  his  early  history,  and  his  observations 
of  men  and  things  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  He  was  a  most 
acute  observer  of  men  and  affairs,  and  a  great  lover  and  student 
of  nature.  Geological  formations  of  the  earth  attracted  his  at 
tention,  and  he  would  quickly  observe  indications  and  features 
which  an  ordinary  man  would  pass  by  unnoticed.  He  knew  all 
the  trees  in  the  parks  around  Washington.  He  could  tell  them 
from  the  bark  or  leaf,  and  he  knew  the  qualities  and  uses  of  the 
woods  which  they  produced.  He  watched  the  courses  of  the 
birds,  and  the  habits  of  animals,  and  indeed,  the  philosophy  of 
his  life  seemed  to  me  to  be  gathered  more  directly  from  nature 
than  that  of  any  man  I  have  ever  known. 

While  he  was  college  bred  and  had  the  general  information 
that  comes  from  perusal  of  current  literature,  he  did  not  rely 
so  much  upon  books  as  upon  observation  and  experience.  He 
was  not  a  severe  student  of  constitutions  or  statutes,  but  what 
ever  question  arose  he  seemed  to  grasp  it  in  its  relation  to  men 
and  things  and  to  construe  it  upon  lines  of  thought  connected 
with  the  development  of  affairs  and  the  betterment  of  condi 
tions. 

He  was  a  great  believer  in  education,  and  it  was  the  frequent 
subject  of  his  conversational  dissertation .  It  is  related  that  when 
he  contemplated  the  establishment  of  Stanford  University  that 
he  and  his  wife  together  visited  a  distinguished  college  presi 
dent  in  New  England  and  asked  what  amount  it  would  take  to  en 
dow  such  a  great  institution  as  he  described  to  him.  After  study 
ing  over  the  matter  the  college  president  answered,  "About  five 
millions  of  dollars."  He  turned  to  his  wife,  standing  by,  and  re 
marked  simply,  "Don't  you  think  we  had  better  make  it  ten 
millions,  my  dear?" 

He  had  an  inventive  and  creative  intellect.  He  was  the  origi 
nator  of  the  use  of  the  cable  in  street-car  transportation  in  San 
Francisco,  and  invented  the  grip  first  employed  to  communicate 
the  force  of  the  cable.  I  have  heard  that  he  was  also  the  in 
ventor  of  the  sand-blast,  a  process  by  which  carvings  in  stone 
are  quickly  made  without  the  use  of  the  chisel.  The  idea  of  it 
occurred  to  him  from  noticing  how  the  twig  of  a  tree,  shelter 
ing  u  stone  from  sands  blown  against  it  by  the  winds  left  its 
projected  shape  upon  the  stone  behind  it;  and  he  conceived  from 
this  observation  the  use  of  the  sand-blast  in  art,  fashioning  the 
plan  on  the  workings  of  nature. 

He  also  originated  the  use  of  the  instantaneous  photograph, 
employing  it  to  ascertain  the  exact  movement  of  the  horse  in 

440 2 


18 

action,  and  deducing1  from  its  observations  principles  which  he 
applied  in  the  breeding  of  horses  on  his  stock  farm. 

Senator  Stanford  was  a  wonderfully  successful  man.  He  seemed 
to  possess  the  successful  temperament.  He  foresaw  the  move 
ments  of  population,  the  trend  in  the  growth  of  cities,  the  great 
possibilities  of  uninhabited  territory,  and  he  applied  his  know 
ledge  in  great  concerns  with  as  much  ease  as  ordinary  men 
apply  theirs  to  the  trivial  details  of  daily  existence.  He  mastered 
the  details  of  whatever  enterprise  he  undertook,  and  he  spared 
nothing  to  accomplish  the  ends  he  aimed  at.  He  would  spend 
money  as  profusely  as  a  potter  would  spend  clay  to  make  a  mold 
of  an  ideal. 

Having  conceived  that  an  electric  motor  might  be  applied  to 
sewing  machines,  and  thus  enable  housewives  and  poor  working- 
women  to  accomplish  much  where  they  now  accomplished  little, 
a  friend  observed  him  one  day  as  he  gave  $2,000  to  an  inventor 
who  was  trying  to  work  put  the  idea,  and  he  remarked  at  the 
time,  ''This  is  the  thirtieth  man  to  whom  I  have  given  a  like 
sum  to  develop  that  idea." 

He  had  remarkable  fondness  fo?  the  horse,  and  he  had  faith 
in  the  capacity  of  his  development  to  greater  accomplishments 
than  any  recorded,  and  before  m-.my  years  had  passed  by  he  was 
the  head  of  the  American  turf,  his  trotting  horses  and  his  thor 
oughbreds  alike  breaking  all  records.  Nor  was  his  predilec 
tion  a  mere  fancy  of  the  mind  or  resource  of  amusement.  To 
give  thousands  or  tens  of  thousands  for  a  horse  he  desired  he 
counted  as  nothing.  In  results  he  made  money,  and  accumu 
lated  fortunes  upon  the  expenditure  of  fortunes.  He  could  have 
talked  of  evolution  with  Darwin  and  given  him  many  a  useful 
hint  and  valuable  experience. 

There  was  something  peculiarly  soft  and  tender  in  his  domes 
tic  life.  He  and  his  beloved  wife  were  a  noble  pair  well  mated, 
and  walked  the  ways  of  life  together,  sharing  all  its  joys  and 
sorrows  in  mutuality  of  love  and  counsel.  Bereaved  as  she  is 
now,  she  has  the  sympathy  of  countless  hearts  who  share  her 
sorrow.  "  Great  men,  "said  Lord  Bacon,  "  have  no  continuance." 
And  to  him  befell  the  fate  of  being  bereaved  of  his  only  son.  He 
sought  to  fill  the  void  in  the  father's  and  mother's  heart  by 
building  a  great  university  toba  called  after  his  son,  and  to  bs  a 
monumentto  his  memory,  in  which  other  youths  might  bs  trained 
and  educated.  And  in  years  to  come  the  ingenuous  youths  of  our 
country  by  scores  and  thousands  will  gather  at  the  shrine  of 
learning  which  he  has  established,  the  fruit  of  the  affection 
which  he  cherished  for  his  dead  boy. 

His  interest  in  his  employes  was  father-like.  He  believed  in 
high  wages,  but  he  sought  on  all  occasions  to  impress  upon  his 
employes  the  importance  of  s  iving  and  becoming  independent. 
He  was  a  kind  and  true  friend  and  a  genial  companion.  He  was 
singularly  simple  in  his  manners,  generous  in  his  hospitality, 
and  unostentatious  in  his  dress,  habits,  and  social  ways.  While 
he  moved  amongst  scenes  of  splendor  which  might  have  won  the 
envy  of  a  Monte  Cristo  and  dispensed  hospitality  like  a  prince 
of  the  Orient,  he  did  it  with  an  unconscious  simplicity  which  gave 
to  his  life  an  unspeakable  charm. 

Quiet  and  composed  as  he  always  seemed,  one  would  scarcely 
conceive  from  his  dignified  appearance  what  tremendous  energy 

440 


19 

and  fire  lay  beneath  the  serene  surface,  but  when  aroused  to 
the  inspiration  of  a  great  undertaking-  he  displayed  the  con 
centrated  forces  and  rapid  movement  which  bespeak  the  quali 
ties  of  a  general  who  reads  necessities  of  battle  and  hurls  every 
element  of  strength  on  the  turning  point.  I  am  told  that  in 
driving  even  he  would  often  put  his  horses  to  their  utmost 
speed  through  long  journeys,  at  once  testing  their  qualities  and 
displaying  the  nervous  energy  and  passion  of  their  driver. 

In  the  Senate  he  was  not  amongst  its  great  debaters  or  speak 
ers,  but  he  served  his  State  and  country  with  fidelity  and  ability. 
He  was  amongst  the  wise  counsellors,  and  his  influence  was  al 
ways  felt  for  judicious  and  patriotic  ends.  He  had  some  ideas 
which  he  was  never  able  to  impress  upon  his  associates  as  be 
ing  practicable,  amongst  them  his  idea  of  lending  vast  amounts 
of  money  upon  land.  I  have  talked  with  him  for  hours  and 
hours  upon  repeated  occasions  on  that  theme,  and  he  often  urged 
me  to  adopt  his  views  and  advocate  them.  I  could  never  see 
that  they  were  practicable,  and  with  all  my  respect  for  him  and 
desire  to  meet  his  wishes,  I  could  not,  of  course,  comply  with 
his  request. 

Yet,  let  me  say  that  beneath  the  difficulties  which  present 
themselves  to  such  an  idea  as  he  had  formed,  there  are  in  it  germs 
of  truth  and  wisdom,  such  as  are  found  in  the  first  evolutions  of 
invention,  which,  in  a  later  and  riper  day  of  the  world's  history, 
may  be  developed  into  much  that  is  attainable  and  good.  His 
germinal  idea  was  to  put  a  fixed  value  on  property,  as  there  is  a 
fixed  value  upon  money,  and  to  make  the  possession  of  property, 
which  is  taxed  at  a  certain  value,  the  assurance  of  the  transmu 
tation  of  that  property  into  other  forms  of  property  when  neces 
sary  or  convenient;  as  the  world's  population  shall  increase, 
and  as  financial  refinements  and  facilities  shall  be  developed, 
there  will  be  found  in  this  idea  much  to  build  upon,  and  in  the 
end  probably  some  ripe  consummation. 

He  was  an  enthusiastic  believer  in  the  power  and  glory  of  this 
country,  and  a  great  dreamer  of  its  benevolent  mission.  He  al 
ways  advocated  more  money  for  our  restricted  financial  conditions 
and  the  restoration  of  the  bimetallic  money,  to  which  this  land 
had  been  accustomed  for  ^well-nigh  a  hundred  years.  In  this  he 
departed  from  the  views*  of  many  capitalists,  whom  he  thought 
somewhat  narrow  in  comprehension  of  their  own  permanent  in 
terests,  and  indicated,  as  I  fancied,  his  sympathy  with  the  strug 
gling  masses  of  humanity. 

I  can  not  say  that  I  was  ever  intimate  with  Senator  Stanford, 
though  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Piiblic  Buildings,  of 
which  he  was  chairman,  I  was  often  thrown  in  familiar  inter 
course  with  him,  and  enjoyed  with  him  many  days  and  hours  of 
agreeable  companionship.  In  the  refined  courtesies  which  be 
speak  the  gentleman,  I  have  never  known  him  to  be  surpassed. 
No  word  that  he  ever  uttered,  either  in  private  conversation  or 
in  public  debate,  could  offend  the  sensibilities  of  any  citizen  of 
our  country. 

Of  a  robust  constitution,  it  might  have  been  expected  that  his 
life  would  have  been  prolonged  beyond  the  three  score  and  ten 
of  man's  allotted  time,  but  he  died  at  Palo  Alto,  his  California 
country  home,  on  June  21  last,  ere  he  had  quite  attained  his 
seventieth  year. 

440 


20 

In  common  with  all  who  knew  him,  I  shall  cherish  of  him  the 
most  agreeable  recollections.  The  world  is  better  that  he  lived 
in  it  and  many  a  heart  that  has  been  made  happy  by  his  gener-  / 
ositv  felt  a  pang  of  sorrow  when  he  died.  The  fear  of  death  is 
doubtless  implanted  in  the  human  soul,  because  God  and  Nature 
have  uses  for  the  living  and  work  for  them  to  do  which  they 
should  not  lay  down  undone;  but  when  we  see  that  death  is  uni 
versal,  it  should  afflict  us  with  no  mortal  dread. 

Well  has  the  late  Laureate  of  England  described  the  succes 
sive  stages  of  nature,  from  the  bud  to  the  fruit,  from  the  fruit 
to  decay: 

Lo!  in  the  middle  of  the  wood 

The  folded  leal  is  woo'd  from  out  the  bud 

With  winds  upon  the  branch,  and  there 

Grows  green  and  takes  no  care. 

Sun-steeped  at  noon,  and  on  the  moon 

Nightly  dew-fed;  and  turning  yellow, 

Falls  and  floats  adownthe  air. 

Lo '  sweetened  with  the  summer  light, 

The  full-juiced  apple  waxiiig  over  mellow, 

Drops  in  a  silent  autumn  night, 

All  its  allotted  length  of  days. 

The  flower  ripens  in  its  place- 
Ripens  and  fades  and  falls, 

And  hath  no  toil 

Fast  rooted  in  the  soil. 

Such,  too,  is  human  life— like  the  fruit,  waxing  ever  mellow 
and  returning  again  to  the  earth,  from  which  it  sprung. 

So,  now  that  our  kind,  good  friend  has  passed  away,  we  should 
not  veil  his  bier  in  tears.  He  had  lived  his  life;  he  had  done  his 
work:  he  had  found  happiness,  such  as  it  may  be  permitted  mor 
tal  to  possess  or  that  earth  could  give;  and,  what  is  most,  he  had 
conferred  much  happiness  and  benefaction  upon  others.  It  was 
said  of  old  that  it  was  easier  for  the  camel  to  go  through  the  eye 
of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Eeaven. 
Whatever  may  be  the  temptations  that  assail  the  rich  and  pow 
erful,  surely  one  who  earned  to  give  as  he  did  and  who  only 
treated  power  as  opportunity  of  good  should  find  no  impediment 
toward  the  highest  destiny  which  may  await  hereafter  the  spirits 
of  the  just.  Even  as  the  sparks  fly  upward,  it  would  seem  to  me 
only  in  accord  with  the  eternal  harmonies  of  the  universe  that 
his  spirit,  in  quitting  its  earthly  tenement,  should  find  rest  in 
the  bosom  of  his  Father  and  his  God. 

Mr.  STEWART.  Mr.  President,  Senator  Stanford  was  my 
friend.  I  enjoyed  his  friendship  for  more  than  forty  years.  He 
was  a  strong  character,  of  the  best  Amercantype.  In  his  child 
hood  and  early  youth  he  possessed  the  best  possible  advantages 
which  our  country  afforded.  He  was  raised  on  a  farm,  where  he 
had  an  opportunity  to  observe,  and  did  observe,  the  source  of 
wealth,  prosperity,  and  civilization.  He  knew  as  a  boy  land, 
soils,  and  crops,  and  the  means  of  utilizing  them.  He  became 
familiar  with  animals  and  their  use;  with  trees,  plants,  and 
birds.  He  learned  the  use  of  tools  and  implements  of  husbandry. 
He  realized  early  in  his  eventful  life  that  the  storehouse  of  na 
ture  is  abundantly  supplied  with  all  things  necessary  for  the 
good  of  man.  The  book  of  nature  was  his  guide.  Literature 
and  science,  which  illustrated  that  book  and  revealed  its  hidden 

440 


21 

mysteries,  most  interested  him.  He  fully  comprehended  the 
great  truth  so  often  expressed  by  him,  that  the  earth  and  the 
elements  are  abundantly  sufficient  to  supply  the  ever-increasing 
wants  of  man. 

He  was  a  utilitarian,  and  dedicated  his  career  to  the  creation 
of  wealth  by  developing  the  resources  of  the  West.  In  his  youth 
he  had  witnessed  the  marvelous  development  of  the  interior  of 
the  great  State  of  New  York  by  means  of  the  Erie  Canal  and. 
other  internal  improvements.  In  his  early  manhood  he  saw, 
while  a  resident  of  Wisconsin,  the  magic  effect  of  railroads  upon 
the  progress  and  development  of  the  great  Mississippi  Valley. 
When  he  made  his  home  in  the  golden  State  of  California  he 
was  possessed  of  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and  equipped  with 
kngwledge  of  affairs.  He  at  once  devoted  his  energies  to  utiliz 
ing  the  resources  of  that  new  and  undeveloped  country. 

The  Pacific  coast  was  then  a  far-off  region.  It  took  longer  to 
cross  the  uninhabited  plains  and  rugged  mountains  which  in 
tervened  between  the  East  and  the  West  than  is  now  required 
for  a  voyage  around  the  world.  A  Pacific  railroad  to  unite  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans  was  a  dream  of  the  distant  future. 
It  was  only  a  dream.  No  man  ever  hoped  to  realize  that  dream 
in  his  own  generation.  The  war  of  the  rebellion  forced  upon 
the  attention  of  the  country  the  isolated  and  defenseless  position 
of  the  region  of  the  Pacific,  but  the  people  of  all  sections  shrank 
from  the  mighty  undertaking  of  binding*  the  two  sections  to 
gether  with  iron  bands,  thus  cementing  the  Union. 

Five  resolute  men  in  the  little  town  of  Sacramento,  in  the  in 
terior  of  California — Leland  Stanford,  C.  P.  Huntington,  Mark 
Hopkins,  E.  B.  Crocker,  and  his  brother,  Charles  Crocker — 
brought  upon  themselves  the  gibes  and  jeers  of  the  thoughtless 
multitude  by  the  organization  of  a  company  to  construct  a 
Pacific  railroad.  The  project  to  scale  the  dizzy  heights  of  the 
Sierra  and  Rocky  Mountains,  to  traverse  the  dreary  plains,  sup 
posed  to  be  uninhabitable  deserts,  with  a  railroad  of  unlimited 
cost,  was  treated  with  ridicule  and  contempt  by  nearly  every 
man  of  wealth  in  the  State  of  California.  The  press"  of  San 
Francisco,  the  metropolis  of  the  Pacific  coast,  denounced  the 
project  as  a  wild  scheme  of  visionary  cranks. 

The  five  men  who  projected  the  enterprise,  unaffected  by  the 
opinions  of  others,  pressed  on  with  supreme  faith  and  undaunted 
courage.  They  appealed  for  encouragement  and  aid  to  the  State 
of  California  and  the  counties  immediately  affected  by  the  road, 
and  obtained  some  assistance  by  guaranty  of  credit;  but  the 
work  was  too  great  for  local  enterprise.  They  applied  to  Con 
gress,  and,  in  cooperation  with  enterprising  men  of  the  East,  se 
cured  legislation  which  enabled  them  to  complete  the  work,  re 
alize  the  object  of  their  ambition,  lead  the  way  to  the  develop 
ment  of  the  empire  of  the  West  and  to  the  creation  of  a  cordon 
of  States  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

The  promoters  of  this  great  enterprise  are  all  dead  but  one. 
Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington,  the  now  president,  who  was  vice-president 
and  financial  manager  of  the  company  from  beginning  to  end.  is 
the  only  survivor. 

Leland  Stanford  was  governor  of  California  during  the  rebel 
lion,  and  was  counted  one  of  the  gr^at  war  governors.  He  was 
the  right  man  for  the  time  and  place,  and  contributed  largely  in 
440 


22 

t 

encouraging  and  maintaining  loyalty  to  the  Union  and  preserv 
ing  peace  and  good  order  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

We  knew  Senator  Stanford  here  after  his  great  labor  had  in 
jured  his  health  and  deprived  him  of  the  physioal  vigor  which 
had  distinguished  him  as  a  man  of  great  affairs*,  but  his  judg 
ment  was  unimpaired.  His  knowledge  of  business  and  of  the 
legitimate  functions  of  Government  made  him  a  safe  adviser  and 
a  useful  and  valuable  member  of  this  body.  His  kind  In-art, 
generous  nature,  and  deep  sympathy  for  the  masses  endeared 
him  to  every  member  of  the  Senate.  No  Senator  who  entered 
the  Chamber  was  greeted  more  cordially  or  appreciated  more 
highly  than  Senator  Stanford  during  all  the  time  he  took  part 
in  the  counsels  of  the  Senate.  Every  suggestion  he  made,  every 
speech  he  delivered,  and  every  bill  he  introduced  had  for  its 
object  the  good  of  all  the  people. 

But  it  was  as  a  private  citizen  that  his  desire  to  benefit  his 
fellow-man  was  most  conspicuously  exemplified.  Mrs.  Stanford, 
who  survives  him,  is  also  a  conspicuous  character.  Theyh.nl  an 
only  son,  a  youth  of  great  promise,  around  whom  their  hearts 
were  entwined,  and  in  whom  their  hopes  were  centered.  Some 
years  ago  he  was  taken  from  them.  They  were  left  childless,  so 
far  as  their  own  blood  and  lineage  were  concerned;  but  they  did 
not  remain  isolated  from  the  world.  They  made,  by  adoption, 
the  children  of  the  people  their  own  children,  and  dedicated 
their  lives  and  fortune  to  the  youth  of  their  country,  both  those 
now  living  and  those  who  come  after  us.  They  devoted  their 
joint  energies  with  renewed  hope  and  vigor  to  the  establishment 
of  a  university  for  the  education  of  youth  of  both  sexes  in  all 
branches  of  science,  learning,  and  literature  which  contribute 
to  the  elevation  of  the  race  and  to  the  development  of  the  re 
sources  of  nature  from  which  the  wants  of  man  are  supplied. 
Their  devotion  to  this  great  object  did  not  render  them  unmind 
ful  of  the  poor  and  unfortunate,  and  they  lost  no  opportunity  to 
confer  unostentatious  charity  and  relieve  want  to  tne  extent  of 
their  power. 

Mrs.  Stanford  is  left  alone  to  carry  out  the  grand  enterprise 
which  they  jointly  undertook  some  years  ago,  when  it  was  agreed 
that  the  survivor,  whichever  it  might  be,  on  the  death  of  other 
should  continue  during  life  to  perform  the  work  of  both.  Mrs. 
Stanford  is  now  devoting  her  life  to  placing  the  Leland  Stanford, 
ir.,  University  upon  a  firm  and  enduring  basis.  The  death  of 
her  beloved  son  in  whose  honor  the  university  is  named,  and  the 
loss  of  her  husband  and  co-worker,  would  discourage  a  worn:  m  of 
less  faith  and  hope  than  she  possesses.  But  the  confident  belief 
that  her  husband  and  son  would  approve  of  her  good  work  give 
her  strength  and  courage  which  nothing  else  could  bestow. 

During  the  long  residence  of  Senator  Stanford  in  California  as 
war  governor,  United  States  Senator,  and  private  citizen  he  en 
joyed  the  love  and  respect  of  the  people.  Bitter  rivalries  and 
political  strifes,  which  are  always  attended  with  jealousies  and 
heart-burnings,  never  broke  the  sym pathetic  chord  which  bound 
him  to  the  people  of  California.  But  the  respect,  love,  and  af 
fection  which  his  good  deeds  inspired  have  at  all  times  secured 
for  him  a  warm  place  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-men.  The  labors 
of  Mrs.  Stanford  will  be  aided  and  assisted  by  the  profound  sym- 

440 


23 

pathy  and  Hndly  feelings  not  only  of  the  people  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  but  inso  of  all  the  people  of  our  common  country. 

The  life  of  Senator  Stanford  is  not  only  valuable  for  the  good 
he  did  while  living1,  but  the  beneficial  effects  upon  the  present 
and  coming  generations  of  the  example  his  life  has  furnished 
can  not  be  overestimated.  The  lives  of  the  great  and  good  men 
who  have  preceded  us  shape  and  mold  our  destiny;  and  as  time 
rolls  on  those  who  now  act  well  their  part  will  also  contribute 
to  mold  the  character,  sh:tpe  the  institutions,  and  improve  the 
conditions  of  generations  yet  unborn.  We  can  say  of  Senator 
Stanford.  "Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant.  You 
have  contributed  your  full  share  to  make  others  happier  and 
better."  We  extend  our  heartfelt  symp  ithy  to  his  sol-rowing 
widow,  who,  while  she  mourns,  has  the  consolation  of  knowing1 
that  the  memory  of  her  deceased  husband  is  cherished  and  re 
spected  by  all  the  people  of  the  great  country  which  he  loved 
and  served  so  well. 

Mr.  VEST.  Mr.  President.  I  knew  Governor  Stanford  very 
well.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and 
Grounds,  of  which  I  have  been  a  member  since  I  came  to  the 
Senate.  During  the  latter  years  of  his  life  disease  and  growing 
infirmity  brought  him  very  close  to  the  younger  members  of  the 
committee.  His  personality  was  always  exceedingly  interesting 
and  unique.  He  had  a  very  peculiar  ment-d  organization.  His 
mind  seemed  to  work  very  slowly  and  with  great  deliberation, 
but  it  had  that  highest  attribute  of  mentality,  the  power  of  an 
alysis.  I  studied  him  from  time  to  time  with  much  interest  and 
curiosity.  The  secret  of  his  great  success  in  life  seemed  to  lie 
in  his  tenacity  of  purpose  and  inflexibility  of  opinion  when  once 
formed.  It  amounted  almost  to  obstinacy. 

After  once  having  come  to  a  conclusion  he  adhered  to  it  with 
almost  fanatical  devotion.  He  was  further  removed  than  any 
man  I  ever  knew  from  agnosticism.  He  had  no  sort  of  sympathy 
with  the  cowardly  philosophy  of  the  agnostic,  which  tries  to 
solve  the  great  problems  of  life  and  eternity  by  simply  saying, 
"I  do  not  know."  He  was  a  Christian  in  the  highest  and  best 
sense  of  the  term.  He  believed  in  the  religion  of  humanity,  and 
trusted  implicitly  his  welfare  here  and  hereafter  to  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount. 

Teach  me  to  feel  another's  woe, 

To  hide  the  fault  I  see: 
That  mercy  I  to  others  show, 
That  mercy  show  to  me. 

He  brought  the  sunshine  into  thousands  of  darkened  hearts 
and  homes,  for  this  was  the  inevitable  result  of  the  belief  he  had 
in  the  eternal  truths  of  the  Christian  religion. 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  devoted  all  his  energies  to  two 
great  ideas.  First,  his  system  of  currency  and  taxation  based 
on  real  estate,  with  which  I  never  had  the  slightest  sympathy. 
Like  the  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  DANIEL,],  I  listened  tohim 
for  hours  upon  this  question  and  could  not  but  admire  his  earn 
estness  and  lorce.but  they  never  produced  with  me  the  slightest 
conviction. 

"Mis  other  great  idea,  to  which  he  devoted  all  his  energies,  was 
the  founding  of  a  vast  educational  institution.  I  shared  for  some 

440 


time  after  I  first  became  acquainted  *dth  him  in  the  popular 
error  that  this  was  simply  a  sentiment  allied  with  deep  love  for 
his  dead  boy  in  whose  grave  he  had  placed  his  heart.  I  found 
in  conversation  that  I  was  mistaken. 

In  speaking  to  me  about  this  great  university  and  explaining 
its  plans,  he  said  that  he  had  hesitated  long  between  devoting 
his  fortune  to  a  vast  hospital  or  to  a  university:  but  that  he  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  his  duty  was  to  endow  this  educa 
tional  institution  in  the  interest  of  humanity  and  of  the  Ameri 
can  people,  ''for,"  he  said,  and  it  made  a  great  impression  upon 
me,  "  in  a  country  with  our  autonomy  and  universal  suffrage,  the 
safety  of  the  Republic  must  rest  upon  the  educated  intelligence 
of  the  people."  I  called  his  attention  at  the  time  to  the  fact 
that  in  this  he  agreed  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  who,  in  one  of  his 
letters  to  a  friend,  explained  that  the  crowning  honor  of  his  life 
and  the  crowning  work  of  all  his  labors  had  been  the  founding 
of  the  University  of  Virginia,  because,  in  almost  the  same  lan 
guage,  he  said  ••  upon  the  educated  intelligence  of  the  American 
people  must  rest  the  hope  of  future  generations." 

I  had  occasion  in  the  same  conversation  to  call  Governor  Stan 
ford's  attention  to  this  language  and  to  the  emphasis  which  Jeffer 
son  gave  in  writing  his  own  epitaph  to  his  idea  of  the  necessity 
of  education  for  a  republican  people  like  ours.  Jefferson  had 
been  a  member  of  the  house  of  burgesses  of  Virginia,  governor 
of  the  Commonwealth,  Minister  to  France,  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  twice  elected  President  of  the  Republic,  and 
yet  in  that  epitaph  upon  the  obelisk  which  he  caused  to  be 
erected  over  his  grave  none  of  these  titular  honors  are  found. 

Here  lies  Thomas  Jefferson,  Author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  of 
the  Statute  of  Virginia  for  Religious  Freedom,  and  Father  of  the  University 
of  Virginia. 

In  his  own  estimation  he  crowned  his  long  and  illustrious 
career  as  did  Leland  Stanford  with  the  erection  of  a  university 
which  should  set  free  the  imprisoned  intellect  held  down  by  the 
iron  band  of  poverty  and  circumstances. 

Mr.  President,  there  are  two  incidents  in  the  public  career  of 
Governor  Stanford  that  made  upon  me  and  others  who  sympa 
thized  with  me  a  profound  impression.  As  my  friend  from  Vir 
ginia  has  said,  he  was  a  great  man,  because  that  man  is  essen 
tially  great  who  can  throw  off  the  prejudices  of  education  and 
locality  and  rise  to  the  necessities  of  the  race  to  which  he  be 
longs. 

One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin. 

And  a  man  who  recognizes  this  has  in  him  the  elements  of 
greatness. 

I  trust  that  I  infringe  upon  none  of  the  proprieties  of  the  oc 
casion  in  alluding  to  these  two  incidents,  well  known  to  my 
brother  Senators. 

Governor  Stanford  first  attained  celebrity  and  a  national  re 
putation  as  the  war  governor  of  California.  He  was  an  intense 
Union  man;  he  had  not  the  slighest  sympathy  with  what  he 
called  the  crime  of  the  rebellion.  He  knew  little  of  the  South 
ern  people  except  historically.  He  did  his  duty  faithfully  to  the 
cause  to  which  his  opinions  and  feelings  brought  him,  and 
during  the  darkest  hours  of  that  cause. 

410 


25 

When  the  nomination  of  Lamar  was  sent  to  the  Senate  for  Asso 
ciate  Justice  of  the  ^Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  a  deter 
mined  effort  was  made  to  defeat  it.  Party  lines  were  attempted 
to  be  drawn,  and  sectional  feeling  was  attempted  to  be  aroused. 
Governor  Stanford  in  a  conversation  with  me  gave  his  reasons 
for  favoring  that  confirmation.  He  said,  "  No  man  sympathized 
more  sincerely  than  myself  with  the  cause  of  the  Union,  or  dep 
recated  more  the  course  of  the  South.  I  would  have  given  for 
tune  and  life  to  have  defeated  that  cause.  But  the  war  has  ter 
minated,  and  what  this  country  needs  now  is  absolute  and  profound 
peace.  Lamar  was  a  representative  Southern  man  and  adhered 
to  the  convictions  of  his  boyhood  and  manhood ,  I  respect  such 
a  man.  There  can  never  be  pacification  in  this  country  until 
these  war  memories  are  obliterated  by  the  action  of  the  Execu 
tive  and  of  Congress." 

Again,  when  the  force  bill  was  pending  and  when  the  most 
determined  efforts  were  made  to  draw  him  to  the  support  of 
that  measure,  for  the  reasons  which  he  had  already  given  in  re 
gard  to  the  Lamar  nomination  he  deliberately  and  positively 
opposed  that  measure  upon  the  ground,  as  he  stated  to  me,  that 
its  drastic  operation  would  renew  the  bitterness  of  feeling  in 
the  Southern  States  which  had  existed  during  the  war. 

But,  Mr.  President,  as  has  been  said  here,  it  is  not  upon  his 
public  life  or  his  business  methods  that  the  fame  of  Governor 
Stanford  will  rest.  It  is  upon  that  charity  and  kindliness,  that 
philanthropy,  which  marked  his  career,  and  caused  him  to  dedi 
cate  his  fortune  to  the  interests  of  humanity,  that  his  memory 
will  go  down  to  succeeding  generations.  His  name  will  be  re 
membered  not  only  upon  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  and  in  the 
canons  of  the  Sierras  but  throughout  the  civilized  world  when 
that  of  every  other  man  in  the  Senate  will  have  faded  into  ob 
livion.  The  world  never  forgets  men  who  have  illustrated  the 
true  and  proper  use  of  wealth,  as  he  has  done. 

Some  years  ago  I  listened  to  an  eloquent  lecturer  who  de 
picted  a  shipwreck,  where  the  desperate  swimmers  went  down 
battling  with  the  eager  waves  that  dragged  them  to  death,  and 
on  the  shore  of  the  ocean  stood  a  multimillionaire  with  a  vast 
lumber  yard,  every  plank  in  which  was  a  life-preserver;  and 
yet  he  gave  not  one  splinter,  because  he  was  not  paid  for  it. 
The  most  despicable  character  that  can  be  known  or  invented  is 
that  of  a  miser  who  clutches  his  gold  because  it  is  gold  and 
hoards  it  from  intense  selfishnass.  But  the  man  who  considers 
himself  a  trustee  of  the  bounty  that  God  hath  given  him,  who 
succors  the  poor,  the  needy,  the  distressed,  typifies  the  om 
niscient  mercy  of  that  great  Being  who  creates  and  guides  all 
things. 

Governor  Stanford  has  erected  before  all  the.  world  a  magnifi 
cent  mausoleum  in  the  university  founded  by  his  wealth,  but  a 
more  enduring  monument  is  that  of  his  good  deeds  and  kindly 
words.  If  every  human  being  to  whom  he  had  done  a  kindness 
could  place  on 3  leaf  upon  his  grave,  he  would  sleep  to-night  be 
neath  a  mountain  of  foliage.  Bancroft  LlbtMy 

Mr.  PERKINS.  Mr.  President,  in  accordance  with  a  time- 
honored  custom  in  the  Senate,  it  seems  eminently  proper  that 
among  my  first  utterances  before  this  august  body  should  be  a 

440 


26 

memorial  tribute  to  my  distinguished  predecessor,  Leiand  Stan 
ford,  whose  seat  I  am  for  the  time  called  upon  to  occupy. 

For  eight  years  past  he  represented  the  State  of  California  in 
the  highest  councils  of  the  nation,  and  on  the  21st  of  last  June, 
at  his  beautiful  country  home  at  Palo  Alto,  he  peacefully  passed 
to  that  bourne  from  which  no  traveler  returns.  The  many  eulo 
gies  which  his  death  have  called  forth  show  what  a  large  place 
he  filled  in  the  esteem  and  affection  of  his  fellow-men,  and  make 
me  painfully  aware  of  my  own  inability  to  do  justice  to  his  merits 
as  a  man,  his  eminence  as  a  citizen,  his  record  as  a  philanthropist, 
and  his  illustrious  services  to  his  country  and  his  kind. 

Leiand  Stanford  was  born  on  the  9th  day  of  March,  1824,  at 
Water vliet,  Albany  County,  N.  Y.  He  came  of  sturdy  and 
honorable  English  ancestry,  identified  for  two  centuries  with 
the  best  traditions  of  New  England  life.  The  father  of  Senator 
Stanford  removed  early  in  the  present  century  from  Massachu 
setts  to  the  State  of  New  York  and  became  a  thrifty  and  highly 
respected  farmer  and  successful  railroad  contractor.  Amid  the 
beautiful  scenery  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  the  robust  and  healthful 
associations  of  farm  life,  and  such  instruction  as  the  neighbor 
ing  schools  afforded,  the  boy  grew  up  strong  in  body,  sound  in 
mind,  loving  nature,  honoring  manual  labor,  eager  for  practical 
information,  and  learning  to  master  himself.  He  was  early  noted 
for  his  sterling  good  sense,  his  cheerfulness,  and  kindliness  of 
heart.  At  20  years  of  age  he  began  the  study  of  law,  and  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  bar  in  1849.  In  the  same  year  he  sought  the  larger 
opportunities  of  the  great  West,  removing  to  Port  Washington, 
Wis.,  where  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He 
returned  to  Albany  in  1850  to  be  married  to  Miss  Jane  Lathrop, 
the  daughter  of  a  respected  merchant  of  that  city,  a  woman  of  a 
largeness  of  nature  and  generous  impulses  corresponding  with  his 
own.  Having  thus  assured  his  domestic  happiness  he  returned  to 
Port  Washington  with  his  young  wife.  Two  years  later  he  was 
overtaken  by  a  calamity  which  eventually  proved  to  be  the  turn 
ing  point  in  his  fortunes  and  led  to  the  eventful  and  auspicious 
years  that  were  to  follow.  A  fire  destroyed  his  law  library  and 
household  effects,  and  left  the  young  couple  to  begin  the  world 
over  again.  This  event  confirmed  his  half-formed  inclination  to 
remove  to  California,  where  his  brothers  had  already  established 
themselves.  On  the  12th  of  July,  1852,  Leiand  Stanford  stepped 
on  the  soil  of  the  golden  State  to  begin  that  career  which, 
whether  it  be  contemplated  from  the  standpoint  of  business  suc 
cess,  industrial  enterprise,  patriotic  service,  or  philanthropic  de 
votion,  is  full  of  honorable  testimony  to  his  worth  as  a  man  and 
a  citizen.  After  various  attempts  at  mining  and  trading  in  the 
interior  counties,  Mr.  Stanford  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits 
in  Sacramento,  in  partnership  with  his  brothers.  In  1856  the 
firm  removed  to  San  Francisco,  and  speedily  acquired  a  reputa 
tion  for  honorable  dealing  and  sagacity:  and  it  was  here  that 
Mr.  Stanford  laid  the  foundation  of  his  financial  prosperity. 

To  this  period  is  also  to  be  ascribed  Mr.  Stanford's  first 
entry  into  political  life.  It  was  a  time  of  intense  agitation; 
questions  of  vital  import  to  the  nation  and  to  humanity  were 
being  discussed  in  Congress  and  among  the  people:  political 
parties  were  being  formed  and  reformed.  It  was  impossible  for 
a  man  of  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  impulses  not  to  be  pro- 

440. 


'oundly  stirred  by  the  issues  and  events  that  attended  the  birth 
)f  the  Republican  party  at  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war.  Be- 
3ause  of  the  larger  mold  in  which  he  was  cast  Leland  Stanford 
was  naturally  a  leader  of  men.  In  1857  he  was  the  unsuccessful 
saniidate  of  the  party  for  state  treasurer,  and  later  received  an 
unsought  and  undesired  nomination  for  governor.  He  first  be 
came  prominent  in  national  affairs  when,  in  1860,  he  attended  as 
i  delegate  the  Republican  convention  in  Chicago  which  nomi 
nated  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  witnessed  the  inauguration  of 
President  Lincoln  and  for  some  time  after  remained  in  Wash 
ington,  enjoying  the  confidence  of  the  nation's  chief,  being  his 
trusted  adviser  with  regard  to  matters  in  California. 

In  the  meantime  the  awful  struggle  for  union  and  liberty  be- 
p-an,  and  the  war  cloud  drifted  slowly  over  to  the  Pacific  coast. 
Mr.  Stanford  returned  to  his  adopted  State,  to  find  it  con 
vulsed  with  the  throes  of  anticipated  civil  conflict.  The  dis 
union  element  was  large,  well  organized,  and  determined.  The 
seductive  vision  of  an  independent  Pacific  republic  was  under 
mining  the  loyalty  of  many.  There  was  urgent  need  of  prompt 
and  efficient  action  on  the  part  of  patriotic  citizens  and  believers 
in  a  United  States. 

The  events  that  followed  are  a  matter  of  well-known  history, 
a,  chapter  in  the  political  evolution  of  California  to  which  its 
loyal  people  to-day  point  with  justifiable  pride.  Suffice  it  to 
say,  that  in  the  councils  and  measures  then  taken  to  assure  the 
safety  of  the  Union,  Leland  Stanford  bore  a  conspicuous  part. 
If  Starr  King  was  the  eloquent  voice  of  the  Union  sentiment, 
and  Gen.  Sumner  its  strong  sword  arm,  Leland  Stanford  was 
its  faithful  standard-bearer  and  efficient  organizer  for  action. 
Out  of  the  fusion  of  political  elements  in  the  white  heat  of  that 
hour  the  Union  party  came  forth  with  Leland  Stanford  as  its 
candidate  for  governor.  It  swept  the  State  with  a  great  moral 
as  well  as  political  victory;  and,  as  if  to  mark  the  people's  con 
fidence  in  Mr.  Stanford,  he  ran  6,000  votes  ahead  of  his  ticket. 
In  the  trying  and  difficult  services  that  followed,  this  popular 
confidence  was  vindicated.  None  could  question  his  loyalty  to 
the  national  idea,  his  courage  and  devotion  to  the  best  interests 
of  the  State.  The  partisan  passions  of  that  day  have  cooled,  and 
the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  California's  great  war  governor  are 
universally  appreciated. 

Not  least  among  the  laurels  we  lay  upon  his  grave  is  the  sor 
row  of  a  State  for  a  lost  leader,  for  a  wise  executive,  to  whom  it 
was  so  largely  owing  that  no  American  Commonwealth  was  more 
loyal  to  the  national  idea  than  California,  none  responded  more 
promptly  to  the  appeals  of  the  central  Government  or  gave  with 
more  lavish  and  sympathetic  bounty  to  the  wounded  and  suffer 
ing  soldier.  The  Loyal  Legion  of  the  United  States  utters  the 
popular  sentiment  when,  in  a  recent  circular  commemorating-  its 
deceased  member,  it  declares,  "  His  name  will  go  down  in  his 
tory  as  the  war  governor  of  California,  and  that  distinction  was 
one  of  his  proudest  boasts.*' 

Relieved  from  public  duties  at  the  end  of  his  term,  Mr.  Stan 
ford  found  awaiting  him  a  task  worthy  of  his  large  administra 
tive  and  executive  abilities— the  building  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad.  More  and  more  as  the  war  progressed,  the  unfortu 
nate  isolation  of  California  from  the  rest  of  the  country  had  be- 

440 


30 

of  modern  physical  science  and  manual  labor  training-  which 
arc  lending  features  in  the  education  of  our  day.  Senator  Stan 
ford  sought  to  combine  in  his  new  institution  theoretical  instruc 
tion  with  practic  il  training,  the  study  of  the  applied  sciences 
and  arts  simultaneously  with  pure  learning  and  the  humanities. 
The  consummation  of  this  great  scheme  of  benevolence  Senator 
Stanford  did  not  defer  till  after  his  death,  but  rather  became  the 
executor  of  hi^  own  estate  while  living.  He  set  about  the  work 
himself  at  once.  On  the  14th  of  November,  1885.  the  grant  of 
endowment  was  publicly  made  by  which  his  first  gift  of  $5,000,000 
was  secured  to  the  new  institution.  With  characteristic  energy 
the  enterprise  was  forwarded.  As  by  magic  there  arose  in  the 
lovely  valley,  sheltered  by  the  green  foothills  of  the  Coast  Range, 
the  gVeat  stone  quadrangles  of  the  university.  Already  in  the 
fall  of  1891  the  courses  of  instruction  began.  During  the  past 
two  years  nearly  1,500  eager  students  have  made  the  lofty  clois 
ters  reverberate  with  the  hum  of  their  cheerful  industry  and 
the  effervescence  of  their  youthful  spirits.  The  libraries  and 
museums  are  filled  with  ardent  seekers  for  the  stored  knowledge 
of  the  world,  the  laboratories  and  workshops  resound  with  the 
clatter  of  machinery  and  the  practice  of  the  applied  sciences  *nd 
arts.  Not  only  from  California  and  her  sister  States,  but  from 
Eastern  communities,  from  Mexico  and  the  South  American  Re 
publics,  and  from  the  isles  and  continents  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the 
flow  of  students  is  steadily  setting  in,  and  the  university  seems 
destined  to  become  a  medium  for  uniting  both  Occident  and  Orient 
in  the  bonds  of  human  culture  and  brotherhood. 

Senator  Stanford  was  spared  to  be  present  at  two  of  the  com 
mencements  of  the  school  he  had  founded,  the  central  object, 
with  his  honored  wife,  of  the  reverence  and  gratitude  of  the 
great  assembly.  The  contemplation  of  the  results  of  their  pub 
lic  spirit  and  generosity  and  "the  affectionate  homage  they  re 
ceived  from  their  fellow-men  must  have  afforded  them  a  most 
exalted  form  of  pleasure,  and  made  their  last  days  together  on 
earth  full  of  peace  and  blessing.  Senator  Stanford  appreciated 
fully  that,  to  quote  his  own  words,  "An  institution  of  learning, 
however  broad  its  plans  and  noble  its  purposes,  must  be  a  growth 
and  not  a  creation."  He  made  no  secret  of  his  expectations, 
however,  that  in  the  course  of  time  the  income  from  his  com 
pleted  endowment  would  reach  a  million  dollars  annually,  and 
suffice  for  the  free  instruction  of  ten  thousand  students.  This 
would  make  it  by  far  the  largest  gift  ever  made  to  science  by  an 
individual  in  human  history.  It  will  not  be  out  of  place,  surely, 
for  me  to  solicit  the  sympathy  and  good  will  of  Senators  for  the 
admirable  lady  who  is  charged  with  the  sole  and  unrestricted 
responsibility  of  carrying  out  this  great  scheme  of  human  benefi 
cence. 

My  tribute  would  be  sadly  incomplete  if  it  did  not  include  in 
its  brief  survey  some  recognition  of  the  private  and  personal 
worth  of  the  man  it  commemorates.  The  strong  will  and  con 
tinuity  .of  purpose;  the  large,  calm  judgment:  the  statesmanlike 
sagacity  and  executive  force  of  Leland  Stanford,  have  perhaps 
been  sufficiently  set  forth  in  what  others  and  I  have  already  said 
concerning  him.  But  there  were  gentler,  more  humane  traits 
in  him  that  well  deserve  to  be  remembered.  In  private  inter 
course  he  was  genial  and  kindly,  and  the  soul  of  hospitality.  His 

440 


31 

innate  chivalry  of  nature  was  displayed  in  his  polite  deference 
to  women  and  high  consideration  for  them.  He  was  a  sincere 
believer  in  the  political  enfranchisement  as  well  as  equal  civil 
and  business  rights  of  women.  His  university  at  Palo  Alto  is 
open  to  both  sexes  alike.  It  is  a  crowning-  touch  of  this  chivalric 
spirit  that  in  all  his  public  beneficence  he  linked  his  wife's  name 
with  his  own,  and  dying1  left  his  vast  fortune  to  her  sole  dis 
posal.  His  quick  sympathies  were  revealed  not  only  by  his  loyal 
friendship  and  numberless  deeds  of  kindness,  but  in  the  love  he 
bore  the  animal  kingdom.  On  his  great  ranches  thousands  of 
noble  horses  found  in  him  a  gentle  master.  His  great  mastiffs 
at  Palo  Alto  miss  to-day  the  kindly  touch  of  that  master's  hand. 
He  loved  the  very  trees  at  his  country  seat,  and  had  them  shore 
up  the  decayed  and  feeble  limbs  that  threatened  to  fall.  His 
earthly  successes  were  due  to  many  fortuitous  circumstances  in 
his  career  and  character,  but  his  victories  over  his  fellow-men 
were  won  through  the  goodness  of  his  heart.  The  self-sufficiency 
and  cynicism  which  so  often  attend  wealth  and  power  he  never 
knew.  He  always  believed  in  human  nature  and  trusted  the  peo 
ple;  for,  as  he  said,  "the  majority  of  men  desire  to  do  right." 

Finally,  sir,  I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  all  his  moral  nature 
was  based  on  profound  religious  convictions.  While  making  no 
ostentatious  professions  of  religion,  and  not  a  member  of  any 
church,  his  mind,  liberalized  by  the  reading  of  modern  science 
and  philosophy,  yet  clung  to  the  primal  truths  of  Christ's  teach 
ing — God,  virtue,  and  immortality.  In  the  charter  of  the  new 
university  he  prohibits  sectarian  instruction,  but  requires  the 
teaching  of  "  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  existence  of  an 
all-wise  and  beneficent  Creator,  and  that  obedience  to  His  laws 
is  the  highest  duty  of  man."  After  his  son's  death  his  thoughts 
turned  with  increasing  solemnity  to  contemplate  the  vast  issues 
of  the  eternal  life. 

Like  ancient  Cato,  as  reported  by  Cicero,  he  might  have  said: 

Glorious  day,  when  I  shall  remove  from  this  confused  crowd  to  join  the 
divine  assembly  of  souls !  For  1  shall  go  not  only  to  meet  great  men,  but 
also  my  own  son  Cato.  His  spirit,  looking  back  upon  me,  departed  to  that 
place  whither  he  knew  that  I  should  soon  come,  and  he  has  never  deserted 
me. 

If  I  have  borne  his  loss  with  courage,  it  is  because  I  consoled  myself  with 
the  thought  that  our  separation  would  not  be  for  long. 

In  whichever  of  its  many  aspects  we  contemplate  the  life  of 
Leland  Stanford,  as  a  successful  and  honorable  merchant,  as  a 
great  ahief  of  industry,  as  a  patriotic  war  governor,  as  a  Senator 
oi  the  United  States,  as  a  wise  and  generous  philanthropist,  he 
reveals  himself  as  a  unique  and  commanding  figure  in  our  coun 
try's  history,  and  a  noble  type  of  American  manhood. 

Peace  to  his  ashes  and  honor  to  his  memory! 

Mr.  President,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  Leland 
Stanford,  who  died  while  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  I  move 
that  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  motion  was  unanimously  agreed  to,  and  (at  5  o'clock  and 
25  minutes  p.  m.)  the  Senate  adjourned  until  Monday,  September 
18,  1893,  at  12  o'clock  m. 

440 


